ETHIOPIAN Airlines has officially launched a $12.5 billion construction project that officials say will build Africa's largest airport when completed in the Ethiopian city of Bishoftu in 2030.
The state-owned airline has won a contract to design a four-runway airport in the city, which is located about 45 km southeast of Addis Ababa.
"Bishoftu International Airport will be the largest aviation infrastructure project in the history of Africa," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said on the X platform.
The new airport will have space to park 270 aircraft and will be able to handle up to 110 million passengers a year, more than four times the capacity of Ethiopia's current main airport.
It will reach the limits of its capacity in the next two to three years, according to Abiy.
The airline's director of infrastructure development and planning, Abraham Tesfaye, said it would finance 30%, while lenders would provide the rest.
$610 million has already been allocated for earthworks.
They should be completed within a year, with the main contractors expected to start work on them in August 2026.
The project was initially estimated at $10 billion.
Other lenders include the African Development Bank, which last August announced it would lend $500 million to the project and is engaged in efforts to raise $8.7 billion.
"Lenders from the Middle East, Europe, China and the United States have shown strong interest in financing the project," Abraham said. /Telegraph/
