International airline Goldstar Air, the wings of Ghana, has set its sights on becoming a leading contributor to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), taking the initiative to globalize Ghanaian music and movies on board our aircraft and promoting them at international events.
This will include initiating a biweekly (2 weeks) employee pay structure, which will align with our other destinations’ salary structure to avoid employment discrimination and the first of its kind in the aviation sector in Ghana.
Goldstar Air with its 24-hour service is projecting a fleet of more than one hundred (100) modern aircraft to a network of more than ninety (90) key business and leisure destinations, which will be a massive investment and game changer to the Ghanaian music and movie industry for sustainable economic development in the country.
The global in-flight entertainment (IFE) market size is expected to grow 9.1% from 2002 to 2028, it was valued at $6.01 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $9.46 billion by 2028.
Ghana’s movie and music industry can benefit from the global in-flight entertainment market demand, which is influenced by the rising number of air passengers globally, including Kumawood movies, and the airline will arrange international events for them. This is part of the airline job drive, creating over one hundred thousand direct and over one million indirect jobs.
Kumawood old movies, old highlife music, and Ghanaian gospel music will be part of our entertainment on board our aircraft so passengers can have a variety of movies and music videos to watch and listen to. This initiative will enormously benefit the producers by making extra money on their abandoned work after many years of production and the airline will also honor the living legends.
The largest international airlines sometimes pay more than $90,000 for a license to show one movie over two or three months. These airlines usually feature up to 100 movies at once, whereas 20 years ago they would have only 10 or 12. In the United States, airlines pay a flat fee every time a movie is watched by a passenger. Some airlines spend up to $20 million per year on content.
The first in-flight movie was screened by Aeromarine Airways in 1921, showing Howdy Chicago to passengers on a Felixstowe F.5 flying boat as it flew around Chicago. The film The Lost World was shown to passengers of an Imperial Airways flight in April 1925 between London (Croydon Airport) and Paris. Eleven years later, in 1932, the first in-flight television called ‘media event’ was shown on a Western Air Express Fokker F.10 aircraft.
According to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldstar Air Eric Bannerman, the indigenous airline is a registered company in Ghana and the United States, with an issued Licence from Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to operate international flights, and awaiting aircraft inspection to start operations to North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and West Africa.
The airline wants to be recognized among the best one hundred (100) companies in Africa and believes profitability can position itself as a pivotal economic tool for Ghana.
Goldstar Air’s 24-hour service will prioritize all sectors of Ghana’s economy and determine to produce a record revenue, comparable to some airlines in the United States that produced a gross profit of over $14 billion in 2023, an increase in capacity year-over-year. Goldstar Air will focus on and leverage Ghana as the center of the world and gateway to West Africa to deliver strong revenue performance, driven by our continued strength in the air travel demand, including Ghanaian music and movies.
In-flight entertainment became mainstream and popular in 1961. David Flexer of Inflight Motion Pictures developed the 16mm film system using a 25-inch reel for a wide variety of commercial aircraft. Capable of holding the entire film, and mounted horizontally to maximize space, this replaced the previous 30-inch-diameter film reels. In 1961, TWA committed to Flexer’s technology and was the first to debut a feature film in flight.
Regularly scheduled Inflight movies began to premiere in 1961 on flights from New York to Los Angeles. The first movie shown was Love Possessed (1961), starring Lana Turner, it was first shown on July 19, 1961, when TWA showed it to its first-class passengers.
In 1962, Mr. Flexer said in an interview with the New Yorker that, ‘an awful lot of ingenuity has gone into this thing, which started from my simply thinking one day, in flight, that air travel is both the most advanced form of transportation and the most boring.
Pakistan International Airlines was the first international airline to introduce this entertainment system, showing regularly scheduled films from 1962.
Goldstar Air’s initiative of globalizing Ghanaian music and movies including Highlife, Gospel, and Kumawood Movies will boost the airline’s inflight entertainment and that will be a major factor driving the Inflight advertising market value. As more people fly with us, there will be a larger audience for Inflight advertising that can be targeted to specific demographics and regions.
Another factor driving Goldstar Air’s Inflight advertising market growth is the rising demand for Inflight entertainment. Passengers should expect high-quality Inflight entertainment, such as movies, television shows, and music.
As Goldstar Air invests in new Inflight entertainment systems, new advertising opportunities will emerge for Inflight advertising and will be additional revenue streams other than ticket sales. The airline Inflight advertising will be a lucrative source of income and new ways to engage passengers.
Inflight entertainment is an option on almost all wide-body aircraft, while some narrow-body aircraft are not equipped with any form of in-flight entertainment. This is mainly due to the aircraft storage and weight limits. The Boeing 757 was the first narrow body to widely feature both audio and video Inflight entertainment.
There are two major sections of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s airworthiness to regulate flight entertainment systems and their safety in transport category aircraft; 14 CFR 25, 1301 which approves the electronic equipment for installation and use, by assuring that the system in question is properly labeled, and its design is appropriate to its intended function. 14 CFR 25.1309 states that the electrical equipment must not alter the safety or functionality of the aircraft upon the result of a failure. One way for the intended Inflight entertainment system to meet this regulatory requirement is to be independent of the aircraft’s main power source and processor.
By separating the power supplies and data links from that of the aircraft’s performance processor, in the event of a failure the system is self-contained and cannot alter the functionality of the aircraft. Upon a showing of compliance with all the applicable U.S. regulations, the in-flight entertainment system is capable of being approved in the United States. Certain U.S. design approvals for Inflight entertainment may be directly accepted in other countries or may be capable of being validated, under existing bilateral airworthiness safety agreements.
Mr. Bannerman emphasized that the airline has already sponsored and promoted some Ghanaian Gospel music and movies and will soon give them contracts as our brand ambassadors to get extra money and to get them on the international stage to perform. The airline will give our brand ambassadors a 50% discount for any company who wants to use their services for advertising on our Infight magazine and screens, for them to use it as their insurance and retirement savings plans.
Goldstar Air is proud to be part of the annual sponsors of Our Music Festival in Ghana, initiated by Ghanaian international producer, songwriter, and singer, Mr. Ekow Alabi Savage who is based in Berlin, Germany since 1978, with Mr. Aryee Brown.
Seasoned musicians Pat Thomas, K.K Kabobo, and Akablay are part of the yearly performers of the Our Music Festival, as well as the Makcabo band and the Efee Noko Traditional band with different shades of made-in-Ghana rhythms, with different forms of contemporary music-derived some energy from the traditional base.
Our Music Festival is a strong indication of its determination to be counted as one of the nation’s major entertainment events in December. A large number of home-grown Ghanaian musicians turned up for the program which they embraced into their Christmas and New Year activities.
As part of spicing and relaxing with our Inflight entertainment, passengers will be treated to our catering culture and the airline will collaborate with local farmers to serve Plantain chips, Koose, Roasted plantain, Tapioca, Ekuegbemi, Tiger nut pudding, Oblayoo, Massa, Kuli-kuli, Akpiti, Adonlee, Kelewele, Acheke, Waakye, Abolo, Yakayaka, Aboboi and Tatale, giving the Ghanaian food and beverage companies a good stand to gain as Goldstar Air introduces local delicacies on board, showcasing them globally.
In 1971, Transcom developed the 8mm film cassette. Flight attendants could now change movies in-flight and add short subject programming. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, CRT-based projectors began to appear on newer widebody aircraft, such as the Boeing 767. These used LaserDiscs or video cassettes for playback. Some airlines upgraded the old film IFE system to the CRT-based systems in the late 1980s and early 1990s on some of their older widebodies.
In 1985, Avicom introduced the first audio player system, based on the Philips Tape Cassette technology. In 1998, the Airvision company introduced the first in-seat audio/video-on-demand systems using 2.7 inches (69 mm) LCD technology for Northwest Airlines. The trails, run previously by Northwest Airlines on its Boeing 747 fleet, received overwhelmingly positive passenger reaction. As a result, this completely replaced the CRT technology.
Goldstar Air’s 24/7/365 service will operate flights with installed personal televisions ( PTVs) for every passenger on all our long-haul routes. The airline will place these televisions in the seat-backs or tucked away in the armrests for front-row seats and first class.
The airline will initiate direct broadcast satellite television, which enables passengers to view live TV broadcasts on some of our aircraft and offer video games using PTV equipment. The airline will also provide closed captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing passengers.
From the Volta, Ho Industrial Zone viability will be an economic generator for the region. Hajj flights to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and charter flights will open more doors for the Volta region.
From the Northwestern corner of Ghana, Wa will be experiencing charter flights from the rural and smaller communities connecting global cities which will help businesses in the area expand and attract new companies.
From the Mother of all regions, Tamale will serve as a pivotal hub for our airline’s maintenance base, cargo, and training school, and plans are underway to operate international flights to and from the Sahel region and Hajj flights to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
From the Garden City Kumasi, the airline will initially operate flights to Rome, Madrid, Hamburg, London, Dusseldorf, Milan, and Hajj flights to and from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Also from the Capital city Accra, flights shall include destinations such as Washington, Dubai, Lagos, Toronto, Monrovia, Conakry, Abidjan, Guangzhou, Dakar, Banjul, Rhode Island, London, Freetown, and pending cities such as Miami-Florida, Atlanta-Georgia, Chicago-Illinois, Glasgow-Scotland, Houston-Texas and many more.
