Ethiopian Airlines has formally launched construction of a $12.5 billion airport project that the government says will become Africa’s largest aviation hub.
The move, which underscores the carrier’s ambitions to cement its dominance on the continent as air travel demand accelerates, is seen as a high-stakes bet on the future of African aviation, global transit flows, and Ethiopia’s role as a long-term logistics and connectivity hub at a time when competition among regional airlines is intensifying.
The state-owned carrier on Saturday officially launched construction of Bishoftu International Airport, a four-runway complex planned to open in 2030 and designed to handle up to 110 million passengers a year. Located about 45 kilometers southeast of Addis Ababa, the project is intended to replace the current Bole International Airport as Ethiopia’s primary gateway once capacity constraints become unmanageable.
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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali described the development as “the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa’s history,” noting that the new airport would have parking space for 270 aircraft. By comparison, Bole International Airport, which underpins Ethiopian Airlines’ current hub-and-spoke model, is expected to reach saturation within two to three years based on existing traffic growth alone.
That looming bottleneck has become a strategic concern for Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier by fleet size and destinations. The airline has spent the past decade steadily expanding long-haul routes to Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East, while also deepening its footprint across Africa. Addis Ababa’s geographic position has allowed it to act as a bridge between continents, but congestion at Bole increasingly threatens on-time performance, growth plans, and the airline’s competitiveness against Middle Eastern rivals.
By shifting to Bishoftu, Ethiopian Airlines is effectively planning for a generational leap. With a projected capacity more than four times that of Bole, the new airport is designed not only to absorb future passenger growth, but also to scale up cargo operations, aircraft maintenance, and transit traffic in a way few African airports currently can.
Financing remains one of the project’s central challenges. Ethiopian Airlines’ Infrastructure Development and Planning Director, Abraham Tesfaye, said the carrier will fund about 30 percent of the project, with lenders providing the remainder. The airline has already allocated $610 million for earthworks, which are expected to be completed within a year, while main construction is slated to begin in August 2026.
The African Development Bank has emerged as a cornerstone financier, having committed $500 million and agreed to coordinate efforts to raise as much as $8.7 billion from other lenders. According to Tesfaye, financial institutions from the Middle East, Europe, China, and the United States have expressed interest, reflecting both the project’s scale and Ethiopian Airlines’ reputation for operational resilience.
Still, the price tag has climbed from an initial estimate of $10 billion to $12.5 billion, highlighting the impact of inflation, higher borrowing costs, and the complexity of building large-scale infrastructure in the current global environment. For a state-owned airline, that raises questions about debt exposure, currency risk, and the long-term balance between commercial returns and national strategic priorities.
Ethiopian Airlines, however, has consistently argued that its financial track record justifies such ambition. Unlike many African carriers, it has remained profitable for much of the past decade, even weathering shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic through its cargo business and disciplined cost controls. The airline added six new routes in the 2024/25 period and has reported expanding revenues, reinforcing its case that demand will be strong enough to support a mega-hub.
The Bishoftu project also fits into a broader regional contest. Airlines such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines have built global hubs anchored by massive airport infrastructure, capturing transit traffic between continents. Ethiopian Airlines has long sought to offer an African alternative, positioning Addis Ababa as a transfer point that reduces reliance on Gulf and European hubs.
If Bishoftu succeeds, it could reshape travel patterns across Africa, lowering connection times and boosting intra-African travel, particularly as the African Continental Free Trade Area gradually deepens economic links. The airport could also strengthen Ethiopia’s role in air cargo, an area of growing importance for pharmaceuticals, perishables, and e-commerce.
Beyond aviation, the project carries broader economic and political weight. Large-scale construction is expected to generate jobs and attract auxiliary investment in logistics, hospitality, and services around Bishoftu. At the same time, the heavy reliance on external financing underscores Ethiopia’s need to balance infrastructure expansion with macroeconomic stability.
However, Ethiopian Airlines is betting that long-term growth in African and global air travel will justify one of the most ambitious airport developments ever attempted on the continent.