Africa’s brand new four runway airport will be continent’s largest and cost £7.4bn | World | News

A massive new four-runway airport being built in East Africa is expected to accommodate tens of millions of passengers by the end of the decade. Bishoftu International Airport (BIA) is a major transportation infrastructure project to be built near the town of Bishoftu, Ethiopia.

Authorities hope the project, which will greatly increase the country’s flight capacity, will provide a major boost to the economy while relieving pressure on the nearby Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, which is currently being expanded. The new travel center, which will be only 40 kilometers from the capital Addis Ababa, is planned to be built in two stages.

The first phase is planned to be completed by 2030 in order to create the infrastructure that will accommodate 60 million passengers per year.

This means its capacity is currently three times that of Bole. VisaVerge. It is hoped that the airport will eventually have a capacity of more than 100 million.

Reuters suggests the project will cost $10bn (around £7.4bn) in total.

It was previously reported that the project may include the development of runways and terminals, as well as hotels, shopping malls and commercial complex buildings.

State-owned Ethiopian Airlines has signed on for the design and will provide 20 percent of the financing. Reuters reports. The rest will be provided by creditors.

The African Development Bank, which is leading efforts to secure the remaining financing, announced in August that it would invest up to $500 million (£373.7 million) in the project.

The bank said in a statement that a sum up to that figure was “subject to board approval to secure financing for this transformational regional integration project,” according to the publication.

Construction was planned to begin in late 2025.