Ethiopia Launches $12.5B Bishoftu Airport (Set to Be Africa’s Biggest by 2030)
Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday, January 10, officially launched a $12.5 billion construction project for what officials describe as Africa’s biggest airport, the Bishoftu International Airport, which is scheduled for completion in 2030 in the town of Bishoftu, about 45 km southeast of Addis Ababa, with the state-owned airline awarded the contract to design the four-runway facility that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said on X “will be the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa’s history,” featuring parking space for 270 aircraft and capacity to handle 110 million passengers annually more than four times the capacity of Ethiopia’s current main airport, which he noted will reach its limits within the next two to three years; the airline’s Infrastructure Development & Planning Director, Abraham Tesfaye, said Ethiopian Airlines will fund 30% of the project while lenders finance the remainder, noting that $610 million has already been allocated for earthworks to be completed within a year, with main contractors expected to begin work in August 2026, adding that although the project was initially billed at $10 billion, financing support includes a $500 million commitment from the African Development Bank and interest from lenders in the Middle East, Europe, China and the USA, as Ethiopian Airlines Africa’s largest carrier continues to expand its routes and revenues.
