The Ethiopian Airlines has made another step towards the building of an airport that will be the largest airport in Africa upon completion. The airline, which is also the largest airline in Africa, has signed a deal for the design of the brand new airport with a Dubai based company.
According to Ethiopian Airlines chief executive officer Mesfin Tasew, the new airport will be designed by engineering and consulting firm Sidara from Dubai.
The airport will have capacity to handle 100 million passengers a year and provide parking for 270 aircraft. The first phase of the construction of the mega airport is expected to cost as much as USD6 billion (Sh. 780 billion at an exchange rate of 130 per US Dollar).
“It is a five-year project (that) will be finalized in 2029. It will be the biggest in Africa. Phase one alone will cost at least $6 billion… The money will come through loans and there are already companies that already showed interest,” he said.
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“The first phase includes the construction of the airport facility with a capacity of 60 million passengers per year and the completion of phase two of the airport project will grow to handling more than 100 million passengers per year.”
He further noted that apart from providing a detailed design of the new airport, the Dubai-based Dar will consult with Ethiopian Airlines in the selection of the contractors who will build the new airport facilities.
These developments come in the wake of the meteoric rise of the Ethiopian Airlines, which has around 145 planes that are currently servicing its various routes currently and another 125 new planes already on order and pending delivery from both Airbus and Boeing.
Ethiopian Airlines moved 17.1 million passengers in the 2023-2024 financial year ended June 2024. This was an increase of 23 per cent and it included 13.4 million international travelers. In the current 2024-2025 financial year that started in July, the airline is expecting to carry over 20 million passengers.