► ETHIOPIA: Bole International Airport expansion tenders awarded; new apron to be completed by January 2013.

The Ethiopian Airports Enterprise (EAE) has announced that the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport's apron expansion programme is on track for completion by January 2013. Contracted to China Road and Building Construction Company and with supervision work being done by a local Ethiopian firm - the Transport Construction Design Consultancy Share Company - the EAE expects the new apron to ease the persistent aircraft parking problem the airport faces, particularly during large international conferences.

► ETHIOPIA: Plans afoot for new Addis Ababa Airport as Ethiopian outlines new routes and plans.

When upgrades to Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport were started in 1999 and completed in 2003 with the addition of a brand new terminal as well as a new runway, taxiway and various other structures, it was assumed that the Airport would only reach its maximum carrying-capacity in 2017 and that there would be more than enough time to plan for any future developments, should they be necessary.

Overview of Bole Airport (RaimondStehman)

Well, it seems they will indeed be necessary and very soon, as reports from Ethiopia show that beating all expectations, by 2010, Bole had already hit its planned maximum projected capacity (which had been increased 12-fold to handle six to seven million passengers annually from its prior capacity of 500,000 passengers) thus forcing the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise (EAE) to either consider expanding Bole again,  or to build a brand new airport from scratch.

It appears they will do both.

The first phase of expansion at Bole has already been completed by the Chinese Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) Addis Engineering Plc with the addition of a new taxiway done at a cost of USD$62million thereby permitting the airport to handle 34 aircraft simultaneously with a second phase already underway to further increase that capacity to 44 aircraft at any one time. 

The possible location for the new airport.

Currently, Bole sees over 110 aircraft movements per day, but with statistics showing that passenger arrivals have been steadily growing at 20% per annum, the EAE has also considered the option of building a brand new airport outside the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa between the towns of Modjo and Meki towns on the Hawassa road; a road that will soon become an expressway.

On what would then become of Bole Airport following the new airport's completion:

"The official said the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport will be used for regional flights, VIP flights and for those who are involved in general aviation services (private airlines who provide none scheduled flights). The new airport would focus primarily on accommodating long haul international flights."

Read More Here [Ezega Ethiopia]

Ethiopians' World Network (Ethiopian)

The greatest beneficiary to all this development will obviously be Ethiopian Airlines whose own future growth plans are dependent on an efficient airport operation at Addis Ababa. With the first of their 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners set to be delivered in August and with another Boeing 777-200LR recently ordered, the airline is gearing itself up for an aggressive international expansion which will see the following new destinations and developments:

• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  (from November 2012)
• Sao Paulo, Brazil via Lome, Togo (3x weekly Boeing 787 from December 2012)
• Windhoek, Namibia (from October/November)
• New York (still to be confirmed)
• The establishment of a hub in Southern Africa, either in Lusaka, Zambia, or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania as well as a hub in Central Africa ("one of the Congos") to compliment Addis Ababa.

In the long term, Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremariam stated that Ethiopian will put very "heavy emphasis" on the BRICS nations - particularly Brazil, China and India - and believes these countries will drive the "huge growth" critical to Ethiopian Airlines' Vision 2025 objectives of  flying 11 million and 1.5 million international and domestic passengers annually and generating USD$7billion in annual revenue.