In Africa, the Gulf has just one airport competitor: Addis Ababa

Ethiopia is about to embark on an ambitious project to build a new airport. A hub for dimensions worthy of their counterparts in the Middle Eastat a cost of six billion dollars. With this project, Ethiopian Airlines is realising its vision of becoming THE carrier of the continent. The airline is already the leader in Africa, with a network of 130 destinations and a fleet of 120 aircraft carrying more than 15 million passengers a year.

Today, Addis Ababa-Bole is the only airport that can already lay claim to the title of global air hub, with 70% of Ethiopian Airlines passengers transferring there. Air consultant OAG has analysed theincredible rise in power of Ethiopian. In 2000, Ethiopian, like its main competitor in East Africa, Kenya Airways, offered just under 3 million seats. This summer, Ethiopian is offering 27.9 million seats. Compared with 6.2 million for Kenya Airways!

An airport for 60 million passengers

The carrier is now looking to embark on a new phase of growth. For example, it has just signed a contract with the design consultancy Dar Al Handasah (Lebanon) in association with Zaha Hadid Architects for the creation and supervision of a mega airport city at Abusera. The future hub and airport town will be located 40 km from the current airport. The selection of this site will definitively resolve all the operational problems faced by aircraft at Bole, which is located at altitude.

In its first phase, scheduled for 2029, the future airport will have a capacity of 60 million passengers. This will represent three times more than the current international airport. Ultimately, the new airport will have the capacity to handle 110 million passengers a year. Not much is known about the design of the future airport. All that is known is that the terminal is expected to have a surface area of 600,000 m² in phase 1. And that it will incorporate elements of local architecture in its design.