A $12.5 billion airport under construction in Ethiopia could fundamentally reshape how African travellers connect across the continent, according to Antigua News Room — potentially ending the frustrating reality of transiting through London, Paris or Dubai just to fly between African cities.
Construction began in January on Bishoftu International Airport, located nearly 30 miles southeast of the capital Addis Ababa. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has described it as "the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa's history."
The airport is scheduled to open in 2030 with two runways and an initial capacity of 60 million passengers annually. Plans call for eventual expansion to 110 million passengers per year — surpassing Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson, currently the world's busiest airport, which handled 106 million passengers in 2025.
State-owned Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's largest carrier by fleet size, total passengers and revenue, is leading the project. CEO Mesfin Tasew told CNN the airline will invest 30% of its equity to cover the cost directly. The remaining $8 billion has yet to be secured, with the United States, China and most recently Italy involved in ongoing financing negotiations.
Addis Ababa already ranks among Africa's top aviation hubs, but the airline's current base, Bole International Airport, is rapidly reaching capacity with no room to expand. A new dedicated hub catering largely to connecting passengers would position Ethiopian Airlines at the forefront of one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets.
The project also targets Africa's underused cargo sector, with infrastructure designed to handle 3.73 million tons of freight annually — directly supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area. Landry Signé, executive director at Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted that "African airlines are currently recording the strongest freight demand growth worldwide, up 15–16% year-on-year versus a global average of 5.5%."
However, Signé cautioned that realising Bishoftu's full potential depends on the surrounding logistics — roads, rail, reliable power and customs infrastructure. On financing, he told CNN: "The signals are positive so far — yet closing $8 billion in a single year is an ambitious timeline." Should fundraising extend beyond expectations, he warned the 2030 target for completing phase one "becomes very difficult to hold."
The terminal's design has been entrusted to Zaha Hadid Architects, the international firm behind Beijing Daxing Airport's futuristic "starfish" terminal and Mumbai's lotus-shaped airport. Drawing inspiration from Ethiopia's Great Rift Valley, the design features a single spine running the length of the terminal, branching into four piers with distinct interiors and gardens reflecting Ethiopia's diverse landscapes and cultures.
"When you have people transiting, you give them a feeling of what Ethiopia's like; you feel and touch Africa," said ZHA's director of aviation, Cristiano Ceccato. Semi-enclosed spaces and courtyards are designed to capitalise on Bishoftu's temperate climate. "You're literally outdoors, which is quite unique for an airport," he added.
Designers say sustainability has been prioritised throughout, incorporating locally sourced materials, solar energy and a stormwater system that will feed new on-site wetlands. The aviation industry, however, still accounts for 2–3% of global CO₂ emissions.
The project has not been without controversy. Construction has reportedly displaced more than 15,000 people from over 9,000 acres of agricultural land. Ethiopian Airlines says it is spending $350 million to resettle those affected, building 1,400 homes equipped with electricity, running water, schools and healthcare facilities. Yet some residents from affected areas have told local media they received neither compensation nor replacement housing. The city administration has denied those claims.
Signé told CNN that displacement in large-scale projects across the continent is too often "treated as a logistics problem — number of houses built, boxes ticked — rather than a governance problem." While describing the $350 million commitment as more substantive than many comparable projects, he warned that unresolved community grievances could delay construction and undermine the project's ability to attract further investment.
Bishoftu is the largest in a broader wave of African airport investment that includes Rwanda's $2 billion Bugesera Airport, Burkina Faso's Ouagadougou-Donsin Airport, and major upgrades in Casablanca, Cairo and Nairobi.
CEO Tasew has said he wants Bishoftu to serve Africa the way Dubai or Doha serves the Middle East — a dominant regional hub with strong international connectivity. He acknowledges, however, that the ambition cannot be realised unilaterally. "Air connectivity in Africa is still way behind from where it should be. We need to partner with other African airlines to provide seamless connectivity," he told CNN.
At the 2025 Aviation Africa Summit, African transport ministers adopted an action plan to accelerate the Single African Air Transport Market, a framework allowing airlines to operate freely between member states. Since its 2018 launch, 38 states have signed on and more than 110 new intra-African routes have been created. Research suggests full implementation could increase traffic between African countries by up to 141% and reduce fares by as much as 35%. Smaller airlines and nations, however, have expressed concern that larger carriers would capture the bulk of those gains.
"Ethiopian Airlines remains the market leader, although regional competition is intensifying," said Christy Tawii, regional insight manager for Africa and the Middle East at Euromonitor International. A true connectivity leap, she said, "goes beyond infrastructure" and will ultimately "hinge on policy execution, especially progress on SAATM, visa liberalization and sustained demand growth."
