Ethiopia inks deal for Africa’s largest airport

Ethiopian Airlines has signed a contract with a Dubai-based engineering and consulting company, Dar Al-Handasah, to design Africa’s largest airport – with the capacity to handle 110 million passengers per year – four times that of Bole Addis Ababa International Airport.

According to Ethiopian Airlines Regional Manager for southern Africa Abel Yifru, the airport near the town of Bishoftu, around 45km south of Addis Ababa, will be capable of parking 270 aircraft. Plans to build the airport were originally announced in 2018.

Targeted for completion by 2029, phase one of the project is expected to cost at least US$6 billion, providing capacity for 60 million passengers. According to an Ethiopian Airlines press statement, the four-runway airport will include:

1.1 million square metre terminal with passenger facilities

126 190 square metres of airline support facilities

over 100 000 square metres of cargo and airport support facilities.

The project comes in the wake of projections that Bole Addis Ababa International Airport, the current hub for Ethiopian Airlines, will soon reach its capacity to serve 25 million passengers per year. Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew said the project would help to achieve the East African country’s aim of becoming a global aviation hub.

“With its exceptional capacity and world-class facilities, this new airport promises to elevate African aviation and strengthen partnerships, marking a significant advancement for the region’s air travel infrastructure.”

Ethiopian Airlines – Africa’s largest airline – carried over 17 million passengers during the 2023/24 financial year and expects to carry about 20 million passengers in the 2024/25 financial year. The airline serves 60 key airports across Africa, offering connectivity within the continent and beyond to the Middle East, Europe, India, the Far East, Australia, North America and South America.

Commenting on the project, Dar El-Handasah’s Director of Operations in Ethiopia, Tariq Al-Qanni, said: “We are privileged to be collaborating with Ethiopian Airlines in this visionary new airport, which will provide vital global air connectivity, accelerate economic growth in Ethiopia and elevate Ethiopian Airlines into Africa’s most strategic and most competitive aviation group”.

Ethiopian Airlines said the new airport’s architecture will “incorporate elements of Ethiopian heritage to establish a new emblematic structure for the nation – a people-centric, intuitive airport characterised by sustainability, resilience and future-readiness.”