Ethiopia plans to build mega-airport

Ethiopia plans to build mega-airport

Ethiopia plans to build a mega-airport capable of handling up to 120 million passengers a year, the country’s airports company said.

The location of the airport, to be built within a radius of 100 kilometres of Addis Ababa, still needs to be established, said Wondim Teklu, a spokesman for Ethiopian Airports Enterprise.

“The new airport will be a hub for the whole of Africa, not only for Ethiopia,” said Teklu.

If the project goes ahead, the east African country’s state-owned Ethiopian Airlines would have one of the largest airports in the world.

The current Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is overloaded, receiving more than 8 million passengers a year.

Teklu said that once the enterprise had identified a site, it would seek appropriate loans.

Aviation experts say the number of 120 million potential travellers appears very high. By comparison, nearly 60 million passengers a year pass through Frankfurt’s airport.

Ethiopian Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance group, which is dominated by Lufthansa Airlines. It currently operates 76 aircraft.

The economy of Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa, is growing rapidly. The country, however, remains one of the poorest in the world, according to the UN Human Development Index.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Ethiopia

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