Ethiopia starts building a $12.5 billion “Africa’s biggest airport”
Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday formally began a $12.5 billion building project in the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu, which officials claim would be Africa’s largest airport when it is finished in 2030.
“Bishoftu International Airport will be the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa’s history,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali stated on X. The state-owned airline was awarded the concession to develop the four-runway airport in the town, which is around 45 kilometers (28 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa. The airport will be able to handle 110 million people annually and accommodate 270 aircraft.
According to Abiy, that is more than four times the capacity of Ethiopia’s main airport, which will eventually exceed its capacity with current traffic in the next two to three years.
Abraham Tesfaye, the airline’s director of infrastructure development and planning, told reporters that lenders would cover the remaining 30%.
According to him at the site, it has already set aside $610 million for earthworks, which should be finished in a year. The main contractors are expected to begin construction in August 2026.
The project’s initial budget was $10 billion.
The African Development Bank, which announced in August of last year that it would finance $500 million and spearhead attempts to raise $8.7 billion, is one of the other creditors.
“Lenders from Middle East, Europe, China and USA have shown strong interest to finance the project,” Abraham stated.
The largest airline in Africa is Ethiopian Airlines. In 2024–2025, it added six more routes, and its revenues are rising as well.
