Ethiopian Airlines Plans To Build New Airport
Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will start constructing a new $5 billion airport later this year, its as the rapidly-expanding carrier outgrows capacity at its current base in Addis Ababa. The airport, which will cover an area of 35 square km, will be built in Bishoftu, a town 39 km south east of the capital, and have the capacity to handle 100 million passengers a year.
Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa has a passenger capacity of about 19 million passengers annually. The state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, which competes with large Middle East carriers to connect long-haul passengers, has built a patchwork of African routes from its hub in Addis Ababa to fly customers towards expanding Asian markets. It has 116 aircraft in its fleet and its net profit rose to $260 million in its 2018/19 financial year from $207.2 million a year earlier.
In 2018, Addis Ababa overtook Dubai as the top transit hub for long-haul passengers into Africa.
In 2019 China funded the expansion of Bole Airport was, allowing it to accommodate 22 million passengers annually. Gebremariam has not said how the new airport — which will accommodate 100 million passengers — will be funded.
In a region that has historically struggled in the aviation field, state-run Ethiopian Airlines is truly a success story, playing a key role in the country’s economic development and helping solidify its status as a tourist destination. A new airport takes it to the next level.
The continent has been notoriously under-connected by air, and Ethiopian Airlines is changing that, with flights to more than 60 African cities. The company also owns stakes in several local airlines based in other countries.
Ethiopian Airlines also has a special “Stopover Package” for passengers connecting through its Addis Ababa hub. The program officially launched in 2018 does not raise the cost of an airfare, caters to leisure travellers in order to promote tourism in Ethiopia.
