Ethiopian Airlines, African Development Bank partner to build $7.8bn airport 

Ethiopian Airlines Group and the African Development Bank will partner to build a new airport that’s estimated to cost $7.8 billion and is set to be Africa’s largest.

The parties signed a letter of intent for the partnership to construct the facility in the East African nation on Friday, the finance ministry said in a statement Saturday, without disclosing the amount that the AfDB will provide for the project.

The new airport, known as Bishoftu, will be near the capital, Addis Ababa. Authorities have secured the location and are working on planning new homes at another site for farmers who were on the land, state-owned Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Mesfin Tasew said in November.

Bishoftu will enable Ethiopia to increase its annual passenger capacity from 17 million now to more than 60 million by 2040.

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The AfDB has invested $1.2 billion in Ethiopia, Finance Minister Ahmed Shide said in the statement.

Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB president expressed the bank’s “full commitment” to supporting the airport and praised Ethiopia for an economic growth rate of more than eight in 2024.

The airport will be built near Bishoftu, about 20km southeast of Addis Ababa.

When finished around 2040, it will handle 60 million passengers a year, making Ethiopia northeast Africa’s main aviation hub.

Now, Addis Ababa is served by Bole International Airport, opened in 1962, and recently expanded by China Communications.

It has an annual capacity of around 22 million passengers, but a projected 6% annual increase in tourists means that capacity will soon be reached.