Insights

An airport is often a country’s first and last impression. When Ethiopia unveiled the design for its long-anticipated Bishoftu International Airport on Saturday 10 January 2026, the impression was that Bishoftu will be unapologetically African and unmistakably world-class. The most ambitious aviation infrastructure project in Africa will one day stand alongside some of the world’s best airports, such as Changi and Hamad.

The new $12.5bn airport is located 45 kilometres south of the capital, Addis Ababa, and will be linked by high-speed railway and motorway. Designed by the renowned London-based architects, Zaha Hadid, Bishoftu will initially serve 60m passengers when it opens in 2030. The capacity will increase to up to 110m passengers when the project is complete - four times the capacity of the current Bole International Airport.

The new airport will feature an environmentally-efficient terminal, four long runways, parking for 270 planes and, integrated cargo and logistics facilities designed to support Ethiopia’s vision as Africa’s leading aviation hub. Beyond aesthetics, the design sends a clear message: Ethiopia is planning not just for today’s traffic, but for decades of growth in passengers, cargo, and regional connectivity.

How the success of Ethiopian Airline built the foundation for Bishoftu

The Bishoftu project must be understood in the context of Ethiopia’s unique aviation success story. Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has quietly become one of the most profitable and operationally sophisticated carriers in the Global South, building a pan-African and intercontinental network that rivals far wealthier peers.

The airline posted revenues of $7.6bn in 2024/25 and had nearly 20m passengers. Addis Ababa has evolved into a true transit hub linking Africa to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. Yet success has created its own constraint. Bole is operating well beyond its intended capacity, limiting growth just as demand accelerates.

Bishoftu is therefore not a vanity project—it is a capacity release valve. The airport is designed to accommodate wide-body aircraft, large-scale cargo operations, and future aviation technologies. Crucially, its location outside central Addis Ababa allows for expansion that is simply no longer possible at Bole, while also enabling the development of an aerotropolis linking aviation, logistics, light manufacturing, and services.

Bishoftu must become a destination, not just a gateway

The world’s best airports no longer feel like transit spaces. They feel like places you don’t mind being stuck in. Changi turned this into an art form with gardens, culture, retail, and wellness. Hamad followed with museum-grade art, luxury lounges, and hospitality-level service.

An estimated 80% of Ethiopian Airlines passengers transit through Bole. Until recently, there was one Cloud Nine lounge for premium clients, which was always full. The airport suffers from inadequate seating and limited options for dining and shopping. It is loud and often chaotic. Guests in the airside hotel are not spared from the constant loudspeaker announcements, which start early in the morning.The environment in the VIP terminal is tranquil and relaxing - precisely what the rest of the airport should be like.

Bishoftu has the opportunity to shake up the game in Africa where OR Tambo, Jomo Kenyatta and others have fallen short. In addition to the new lounges that were featured in the promo video, the airport authorities should aspire to lure shops that are not on the African continent like Chanel or Bottega Veneta, M&M and Hello Kitty. Children and families are currently not well-catered for at Bole, which only adds to the stress of travelling.

Lastly, authorities should ensure that Bishoftu caters to both passengers and locals. Changi has extensive dining and shopping landside, and is a popular weekend destination. Whilst the economics may not warrant a similar set up in Ethiopia, at the minimum viewing galleries and affordable eating places should be on offer to cater for locals, who want to and deserve to be part of experience.

Financing the Airport: Scale, Structure, and Credibility

The most consequential question surrounding Bishoftu is not design but the financing. Ethiopia’s challenge is to fund this ambition while preserving macroeconomic stability and avoiding excessive sovereign strain.

Early signals suggest a blended financing model. This is likely to combine sovereign support, export credit agencies, development finance institutions, and carefully structured commercial debt. Given Ethiopian Airlines’ strong balance sheet and track record, the airline itself will play a central anchoring role—either through direct investment, long-term lease commitments, or guarantees that improve bankability. The airline has publicly committed to covering 30% of the total cost and has already allocated over $600m. The African Development Bank (AfDB) will fund $500m and has committed to source an additional $8.7bn.

There is also scope for private capital participation, particularly in non-core assets such as cargo terminals, maintenance facilities, retail concessions, fuel farms, and airport cities. Global airport operators and infrastructure funds increasingly seek exposure to high-growth emerging markets, and Ethiopia—unlike many peers—offers a rare combination of traffic growth, operational competence, and a credible national carrier. The airline has seen interest from the Middle East, Europe, China and the US.

That said, financing will hinge on governance and risk allocation. Investors will scrutinise currency risk, tariff frameworks, repatriation of earnings, and the legal structure governing the airport authority. Transparent concession models, predictable regulation, and ring-fenced revenue streams will be essential to crowd in long-term capital at sustainable pricing.

Financing: What Comparable Airports Tell Us

Ethiopia is not entering uncharted territory; several recent airport developments offer useful comparables for how Bishoftu could realistically be financed.

Istanbul Airport (IST) provides one of the most relevant benchmarks. With an eventual cost exceeding $12bn, the airport was developed under a build–operate–transfer concession, financed largely through syndicated bank loans backed by future airport revenues rather than direct sovereign funding. Turkish Airlines played a key role. The Turkish state de-risked the project through traffic guarantees and regulatory clarity, allowing private capital to fund scale. While Ethiopia’s market structure differs, the lesson is clear: credibility, long-term concessions, and predictable cash flows matter more than GDP size.

In the Gulf, the $35bn Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) illustrates a different model. Financing has relied heavily on sovereign and quasi-sovereign balance sheets, supported by Dubai’s investment-grade credit and integrated aviation strategy. Airports, airlines, logistics zones, and real estate are treated as one ecosystem. Bishoftu is unlikely to replicate this approach fully, but Ethiopia can borrow the principle of anchoring airport financing to a national champion—Ethiopian Airlines—whose operational strength materially improves bankability.

China’s $18bn Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) demonstrates the role of state-led financing at scale. Funded through a mix of central government support, policy bank lending, and municipal investment vehicles, Daxing prioritised speed and capacity over financial returns in the early years. Ethiopia does not have China’s fiscal depth, but development finance institutions and export credit agencies could play a similar catalytic role, particularly for runways, air traffic systems, and energy infrastructure.

Closer to home, Africa’s experience is more mixed. Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) expansions have relied primarily on sovereign borrowing and bilateral financing, often constrained by fiscal pressures and procurement delays. The contrast with Ethiopia is instructive: airline performance and execution capacity matter. Ethiopian Airlines’ track record gives Bishoftu a stronger foundation than most African peers have enjoyed.

Finally, Ethiopia’s own Bole International Airport (ADD) expansion provides an internal precedent. Past upgrades were financed through a combination of airline cash flows, long-term loans, and government support—delivered incrementally rather than as a single mega-project. Bishoftu is likely to follow a similar phased approach, allowing capacity to scale while revenues ramp up.

What This Means for Bishoftu

Taken together, these comparables suggest Bishoftu will not—and should not—be financed as a purely sovereign project. A more credible structure is a blended model: sovereign support for core infrastructure, long-term debt backed by airport and airline revenues, and selective private participation in cargo, retail, maintenance, and airport-city assets. The objective is not financial engineering for its own sake, but risk alignment—matching long-dated infrastructure assets with patient capital.

If Ethiopia gets this balance right, Bishoftu could become a rare example of an African mega-infrastructure project that is both ambitious and bankable—financed not on optimism, but on proven traffic, institutional capability, and execution discipline.

Why Bishoftu Matters Beyond Ethiopia

Bishoftu is not just an Ethiopian project—it is a continental one. Africa remains under-served by long-haul air connectivity, and too many passengers still transit through non-African hubs to travel within the continent. A scaled, efficient Bishoftu International Airport strengthens Addis Ababa’s position as a neutral, pan-African gateway, supporting intra-African trade, tourism, and business mobility in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) ambitions.

The airport also reinforces Ethiopia’s broader industrial strategy. Air cargo is increasingly critical for high-value exports such as horticulture, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and time-sensitive manufacturing inputs. Bishoftu’s cargo-centric design positions Ethiopia to move up global value chains, not merely ship bulk commodities.

A Test of Execution

Ultimately, Bishoftu will be judged not by its renderings but by execution. Delivering a project of this scale on time and within budget—while maintaining airline operations at Bole—will test institutional coordination, project management capacity, and political discipline. Yet Ethiopia has form. Few African countries have executed complex aviation strategies as consistently over the past two decades.

If financed and delivered well, Bishoftu could become one of the most consequential infrastructure assets in Africa: a statement of confidence, a magnet for capital, and a backbone for Ethiopia’s next phase of growth.

For investors, lenders, and policymakers alike, it is a project worth watching closely—not just for what it builds, but for what it signals about Africa’s ability to finance and execute ambition at scale.

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ONGOLO will be organising a market visit of Ethiopia in 2O26. Please reach out if you are a prospective investor interested in exploring opportunities: hello@ongolo.com