Ethiopian Airlines to Build Mega Airport with Annual Capacity of 100 Million Passengers

ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — Ethiopian Airlines, the national carrier of Ethiopia, and Dar Al-Handasah, an international consulting firm, signed an agreement on Friday to design and supervise a new mega airport to be built near the city of Bishoftu, about 42 kilometers east of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

As Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasew said at a briefing, the new airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers a year and provide parking for 270 aircraft.

“The new airport with four runways will be the largest in Africa when it is completed in 2029,” Tasew told reporters, stressing that by undertaking the construction of the massive airport, the airline is writing a new chapter in its aviation history.

The CEO said Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, currently the main hub for Africa’s largest airline, would soon reach the capacity to handle 25 million passengers a year.

“The new mega airport is a five-year project that will be completed in 2029. It will have two phases and once the first phase with two runways is completed, the airport will have the capacity to handle 60 million passengers per year,” Tasew said.

According to him, the first phase alone will cost the airline at least $6 billion, with the money coming from loans from companies that have already expressed interest.

In the 2023/2024 fiscal year, Ethiopian Airlines carried 17.1 million passengers and expects to carry 20 million passengers in the new fiscal year starting July 8, 2024.

The new airport, which is to be built on an area of ​​35 km2, will include commercial and hotel facilities. Once the design is completed, the construction of the mega airport will be put out to tender.