Ethiopia is building Africa's largest airport in the city of Bishoftu, costs are estimated at around US$12.7 billion.

Ethiopia has begun construction of the $12.5B Bishoftu International Airport, expected to be Africa’s largest by 2030.
The Airport, located at 45 km southeast of Addis Ababa, is funded by Ethiopian Airlines, AfDB and international investment.
The four-runway hub will have capacity for 110M passengers a year and parking for 270 aircraft.
Construction of a new airport began in Ethiopia on Saturday, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said it would be the largest airport in Africa when completed.

Africa’s largest airport is being built in the city of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa. Construction costs are estimated at around US$12.7 billion (€10.9 billion) and the airport is expected to be able to handle around 110 million passengers per year. It is planned to complete the construction within five years.

The construction of the airport in Bishoftu is partially financed by Ethiopian Airlines, the national airline of Ethiopia. The new airport is expected to replace the capital's Bolle Airport, which can handle up to 25 million passengers per year.

Ehiopian Prime Minister Abiy on Saturday announced the start of construction of "the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa's history", which aims to ensure that Ethiopia will become the continent's largest transport hub in the future.

He added that the project will also enhance Ethiopian Airlines' global competitiveness, expand intra-African connectivity, trade and tourism corridors, and strengthen Ethiopia's importance as an important intercontinental hub.

The project also includes a multi-lane highway to connect the airport to the capital and a 38-kilometer high-speed rail line that Abiy said will take trains to speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour.

Ethiopia hopes to attract foreign tourists, although armed conflict continues in its two most populous regions - Amhara and Oromia. Bishoftu is located in Oromia.

The new airport will be located on an area of 35 square kilometers. In connection with the construction, 2,500 farmers were relocated last year, for which, according to the head of Ethiopian Airlines, Mesfin Tassev Bekele, 350 million US dollars were spent.

We had reported about this opcoming project in August 2024 when Ethiopian Airlines announced a groundbreaking agreement with UAE-based company Dar to design a new mega airport with four Runways.

In march last year, Ethiopian Airlines Group had signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the African Development Bank (AfDB), establishing a partnership on the new Bishoftu International Airport Development Project in Ethiopia.

In recent years, Ethiopia has implemented several major infrastructure projects, as they expect the new airport to boost capacity from 17M to 60M passengers by 2040.