New Ethiopian airport in the pipeline

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According to eTurboNews, Ethiopia will soon break ground on a new airport close to Addis Ababa.

Once complete, the airport will be able to handle up to 120 million passengers a year and will become the new home of Ethiopian Airlines. Bole International Airport, the main gateway into Ethiopia currently, was built for a capacity of six million passengers, a number which was surpassed last year, with more than eight million passengers arriving, departing, and transiting. Work is underway, however, to raise the capacity to over 20 million passengers to serve as a stop gap until the new airport is ready.

Ground-breaking is anticipated to take place in about 24 months’ time, with construction expected to take as long as 10 years.

The project will be built in several phases, with four runways, several passenger terminals, and an airport city in the plans, at an expected cost of $4 billion.