Ethiopia has signed an agreement to plan a new four-runway airport that will be Africa’s largest when completed in 2029, the head of state-owned Ethiopian Airlines said on Friday. Located near the town of Bishoftu, around 45 kilometers from the capital Addis Ababa, the airport will have a capacity of 100 million passengers a year and provide parking for 270 aircraft, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew told a news conference. Dubai-based engineering and consulting firm Sidara will design the airport, the company’s operations manager Tariq Al Qanni said. Plans to build the airport were first announced in 2018. Mesfin said Bole Addis Ababa International Airport, currently the main hub of Africa’s largest airline, would soon reach its capacity of 25 million passengers a year.

“It is a five-year project that will be completed in 2029. It will be the largest in Africa,” Mesfin said. “Phase one alone will cost at least USD 6 billion … The money will be provided through loans and there are already companies that have shown interest.” Ethiopian Airlines carried 17 million passengers in the 2023/2024 fiscal year and expects to carry 20 million passengers in the fiscal year that began in July.