By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ethiopia on Saturday formally commenced the construction of a $12.5 billion project for what officials say will be Africa’s biggest airport in the town of Bishoftu, setting a completion date of 2030.
State-owned Ethiopian Airline secured the contract to design the four-runway airport in the town located about 45 km southeast of the capital, 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.
According to Abiy, this is four times more than the capacity of Ethiopia’s current main airport, which will reach its limits on existing traffic in the next “two-to-three years”.
The company’s Infrastructure Development & Planning, Director Abraham Tesfaye told reporters that the airline would fund 30% and lenders would finance the rest.
It has already mapped out $610 million for earthworks, which are due to be completed in one year, Tesfaye said at the site, with the main contractors scheduled to start work in August 2026.
The project was initially billed to gulp $10 billion. Other creditors include the African Development Bank, which last August said it would lend $500 million and lead efforts to raise $8.7 billion.
“Lenders from Middle East, Europe, China and USA have shown strong interest to finance the project,” Tesfaye said.
Between 2024/25, Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s biggest carrier added six extra routes while revenues also soar.
