Africa’s largest airport is being built in Ethiopia at a cost of $12.5 billion

Traveling between African cities by air is still often inefficient, forcing many passengers to route through global hubs like London, Paris, or Dubai, but Ethiopia aims to change this reality with the construction of a massive new airport near Addis Ababa called Bishoftu International Airport, a $12.5 billion project that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has described as the largest aviation infrastructure development in African history; scheduled to open by 2030 with two runways, the airport is expected to handle 60 million passengers annually in its first phase, with plans to expand capacity to 110 million—potentially rivaling or surpassing the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; the project is being led by the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, whose main hub, Bole International Airport, has already reached near full capacity with limited room for expansion, making the new facility essential for boosting transit traffic and cargo operations, with plans to handle millions of tons of freight annually and strengthen the impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area; the airport is being designed by globally renowned Zaha Hadid Architects, inspired by the landscapes of the Great Rift Valley, featuring open-air courtyards, natural ventilation, and sustainable technologies so that passengers in transit can experience a sense of Ethiopia’s culture and environment; however, the project has sparked controversy due to land acquisition that reportedly displaced thousands of local residents, despite official claims of compensation and resettlement efforts; at the same time, other African nations are also investing heavily in airport infrastructure, including projects in Bugesera, Ouagadougou-Donsin, and expansions in Cairo, Nairobi, and Casablanca, but analysts emphasize that while the Bishoftu megaproject could significantly enhance connectivity across Africa, its full potential will depend not only on infrastructure but also on policy coordination such as the implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market, visa liberalization, and sustained growth in passenger demand, otherwise the transformative impact may remain limited.