Ethiopian Airlines to build new Sh505b airport

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam attends the Fortune Global Forum in Paris, France. [Reuters]

Ethiopian Airlines will start constructing a new $5 billion (Sh505 billion) airport later this year, its chief executive officer was quoted as saying yesterday, as the rapidly-expanding carrier outgrows capacity at its current base in Addis Ababa.

The airport, which will cover an area of 35 square kilometres, will be built in Bishoftu, a town 39km south-east of the capital, and have the capacity to handle 100 million passengers a year, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency quoted Tewolde Gebremariam (pictured) as saying.