BISHOFTU: Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday officially started a $12.5 billion construction project for what officials say will be Africa’s biggest airport when completed in 2030 in the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu.
The state-owned airline got the contract to design the four-runway airport in the town located around 45 km (28 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa.
“Bishoftu International Airport will be the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa’s history,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said on X. The airport will have space to park 270 planes and capacity for 110 million passengers a year.
That is more than four times the capacity of Ethiopia’s current main airport, which will reach its limits on existing traffic in the next two-to-three years, Abiy said.
The airline’s Infrastructure Development & Planning Director Abraham Tesfaye told reporters it would fund 30 percent and lenders would finance the rest.
