Abusera International Airport: Ethiopian Airlines enlarges its hub – and deepens it

The scheme is not new. People have been talking about this in Ethiopia for ten years. In 2019, the government and the national airline officially announced for the first time that they wanted to replace the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa with a new major airport.

It has reached its capacity limit, it is short and the infrastructure is completely outdated. With the new airport, Ethiopia and Ethiopian Airlines want to move forward and become the Dubai of Africa. Travelers from all over the world will one day be transferred there to fly to a destination in Africa.

So far, despite announcements, nothing has been built

Although the excavators will start operating in 2020, nothing has been built yet. First the epidemic hit the airline industry, then civil war broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray province. Both have now come to an end and the industry is growing strongly again. So Ethiopian Airlines has big plans again.

By 2035, the Star Alliance member wants to carry 67 million passengers and operate 217 flights. To do this, the airline needed a new hub. It has appointed Dar Al-Handasa consultants to re-plan the new airport, it announced on Tuesday (13 August). And even ambitions seem to have grown. It now has a planned annual capacity of 110 million passengers instead of the previous 80 million.

The new airport will be smaller

But the most important thing remains the same: the new airport is located in Bishoptu, 40 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa. It is precisely planned in the hamlet of Abusera. It is located at an altitude of 1,860 meters above sea level and is about 450 meters lower than the present Bole airport. Today’s airport presents “unique operational challenges for airlines,” Ethiopian said.

Airports with higher altitudes and warmer climates have lower air density. This reduces the lift and efficiency of the engines. This may result in the aircraft not being fully loaded or requiring longer take-off and landing distances. In industry jargon this is referred to as heat and high.

The first phase will be completed by 2029

Plans for the new Abusera International Airport – It is to have a terminal area of ​​600,000 square meters and over 100,000 square meters for cargo and other services. It should be able to accommodate up to 270 aircraft.

In the first phase, it will have two parallel runways and will accommodate 60 million passengers annually. To be completed by 2029. A rapid rail link to Addis Ababa city center is also planned. An as-yet-undateable expansion is planned with four runways and a capacity of 110 million passengers.

Star Architects Design Terminal

The terminals will be designed by the office of late star architect Zaha Hadid, who was previously responsible for Beijing Daxing and Western Sydney airports. “The design team will use local culture to create one of the world’s most efficient international transit hubs with a distinctly Ethiopian signature. Influenced by Abusera’s landscape, the design will bring nature to the heart of the terminal,” said Zaha Hadid Architects.