The expansion work Ethiopia is undertaking on the Bole International Airport (BIA) is expected to be completed by 2018. Upon commencing giving service it is expected to triple the number of passengers the airport handles every year.

On the other hand the nation is going to pick a site for a new hub which it expects to take its capacity 10 folds in the future.

BIA is located at the edge of Addis Ababa and it is home for Ethiopian Airlines. Less than a decade ago, the airport handled one million passenbgers a year. However, this figure has now climbed to seven million in 2014. In the next few years, officials expect the number of passengers by 18 percetn.

Hailu Gebremariam, Ethiopian Airports Enterprise project manager for Bole, explained, "We did not expect this growth to happen in eight years. That is why we are undertaking an expansion of the airport that will serve us for the next 15 years, with a capacity about 20 million passengers a year."

It was back in September the expansion work commenced by China Communication Construction Company. The expansion work is being undertaken at an outlay of USD 300 million.

Ethiopia, with one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, was now looking at sites for a new international airport to serve up to 70 million a year, Hailu explained.

"We have whittled down potential sites from eight to three, all of which are within 60 to 70 kilometers from Addis Ababa," he added. According to him the site will be picked in half a year even if construction might take eight years after design, financing and matters like that are finalized.
"Once approved, the construction is only a question of four or five years," Hailu explained.

Ethiopia’s flag carrier is rapidly expanding its fleet and currently has 77 aircrafts with 44 more on order. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), ranked the airline Africa’s biggest by revenue and profit.

Source: Reuters