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What you didn’t know about Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and Ethiopian Airlines. Here are the facts. Addis Ababa, also named Addis Abeba, which can be translated as “new flower” or “natural spring”, is the capital and largest city in Ethiopia. It is home of the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and Africa's biggest airline. Ethiopian Airlines. Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is Ethiopia’s main international airport located in the Bole neighbourhood, slightly under 4 miles (6 kilometres) southeast of Addis Ababa city centre. The airport was formerly known as Haile Selassie 1 International Airport. It is owned by Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s publicly owned national airline and managed by Ethiopian Airports Enterprise. To clarify, Ethiopian Airports Enterprise is one of the core business units in Ethiopian Airlines group with the mandate of executing quality Airport Infrastructure and Services to its customers, and having its own distinct Mission, Vision and Core. Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is the main hub of Ethiopian Airlines and serves destinations in Ethiopia and throughout the African continent, as well as nonstop service to Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The airport is also the base of the Ethiopian Aviation Academy. Since June 2018, the airport has seen an average of 450 planes per day arrive and depart and is currently handling over 12 million passengers a year. About the airport. Addis Ababa Bole International Airport has two terminals: Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 interconnected by a walkthrough. A free shuttle service is also available to connect both buildings. Terminal 1 serves Domestic and Regional flights for Ethiopian Airlines, EgyptAir, Qatar Airways, Sudan Airways, and Yemenia. Terminal 2 serves International flights and the rest of the airlines that serve the airport. Ethiopian Airlines vision is to become a dominant force in the world of aviation. It has therefore developed a plan dubbed Vision 2025. Vision 2025 is the Airlines’ 15-year plan that focuses on transforming the airline and cementing its position as Africa’s largest airline group. As reported in Payload Asia, Vision 2025 consists of four core pillars. The first is to secure the right fleet. As the national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, is acquiring new fleet and opening new international and domestic routes to keep up with the growth. At the moment, the carrier has an operating fleet of 140 aircrafts and 35 on order. The operating fleet is made up of the following: For long Range Passenger Services, it has 18 Airbus A350-900XWB, 19 Boeing B787-8, 8 Boeing B787-9, 4 Boeing B777-300ER, 6 Boeing B777-200LR, 2 Boeing B767-300ER, for Medium Range Passenger Services, it has 20 Boeing B737-800, 8 Boeing B737 MAX, 9 Boeing B737-700NG. For Regional and Domestic Passenger Services, it has 32 Q400 Bombardier. For Cargo and Non-Scheduled Services it has 9 Boeing B777-200LRF (Cargo), 4 Boeing B737-800F ( Cargo) and 1 B767-300F. As of today Ethiopian Airlines flies to and from its hub at Addis Ababa, to more than 127 international destinations and 22 domestic destinations. It offers nonstop service to Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, as well as locations throughout Ethiopia and across the African continent. The second pillar is on infrastructure. This includes the expansion project of Terminal 2 with hotel and VIP complexes. In 2017, Ethiopian Airlines opened its Cargo Terminal-II facility in Addis Ababa airport. The third pillar is human resource development, as the airline continues to pump money into training its staff and crew. Finally, Ethiopian aims to improve its systems. It has since automated all its procedures and is moving forward to becoming a paperless airline. Now how is Vision 2025 being implemented. Ethiopian Airports Enterprise which manages the airport has been engaged in upgrading the country’s airports and undertaking expansion projects in the capital, Addis Ababa, as well as in the regional states. The organisation operates 22 airports in the country and four of them are international – Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Bahir Dar and Mekelle. According to Eskinder Alemu, CEO of Ethiopian Airports, his company is also undertaking major upgrading and expansion projects in the regional towns. “We are building baggage-handling systems (BHS), ground-lighting systems, fence lighting, and other different facilities and infrastructure,” Alemu said. Ethiopian Airports is installing BHS in Hawassa, Kebri Dar, Dire Dawa, Mekelle, Axum, Lalibela, Gondar, Arba Minch, and Semera Airports. It is also building ground-lighting systems in Jijiga and Jimma airports. Perimeter fencing and lighting work will also be undertaken in eight stations in the regional states. Ethiopian Airports is also in the process of launching construction for five new airports in the regional states – Mizan Aman, Gore Metu, Debre Markos, Negele Borena and Yabelo. In line with the growing passenger numbers, Ethiopian Airports launched the $400 million Addis Ababa Bole International Airport expansion project in November 2014. It has three phases. The first was the expansion of Terminal 2, which handles internationals flights. Inaugurated in 2003, Terminal 2 had a floor area of 48,000sqm and a design capacity for six million passengers annually. Under the expansion project, its floor area has gone up to 74,000sqm for a passenger handling capacity of up to 22 million passengers. A large commercial duty-free area has been added and the project was inaugurated in 2019. The second phase was the construction of the VIP terminal and the work started in 2017. The now completed construction is on two floors featuring restaurants, a press briefing room, a meeting hall and cocktail ballroom, plus a VIP saloon. It has three different access ways for diplomats, senior government officials, and heads-of-state with its own car park and access road. The third phase was the expansion of Terminal 1, which currently handles domestic and regional flights. Terminal 1 is now totally transformed and merges with Terminal 2. It still handles domestic flights but with a different look. For the passenger terminal expansion project, the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) was the contractor, the French firm, ADPI, was the project consultant, CPG, a renowned Singaporean company was the design firm and EXIM Bank of China the funder. The expansion project also included works on the tarmac. The apron, which used to accommodate 53 aircraft, now can handle 75 at a time. It also has now a separate stand for general aviation light aircraft, operated by private operators. The runways have been upgraded and maintained. “Three new taxiways have been created and now we have six in total,” Eskinder Alemu, CEO of Ethiopian Airports, said. “All these works increase the number of arrivals and take-offs we can handle.” Even with all the ongoing expansion work, there is concern that Bole International will be congested again after few years. Consequently, the Ethiopian Government and Ethiopian Airports is planning to build a new mega airport outside of Addis Ababa. According to Alemu, the planned airport will have four runways, one big terminal and a commercial area. It will have a capacity to handle 80 to 100 million passengers per annum. “It will be comparable with all the major known international hub airports,” Alemu said. The total cost of the project is estimated at $5 billion. ADPI is working on the site selection and other preliminary studies with Ethiopian Airports and Ethiopian Airlines. “We want to have airports that meet international standards and have operational efficiency. We want to have airports that passengers appreciate,” Alemu said. Beyond Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airports anticipates the possibility of managing airports in other African countries under contract agreements. What does the Bole International airport Terminal 2 expansion project looks like now Inaugurated on 28 January 2019 Addis Ababa Bole International airport is equipped with the latest baggage handling system technology with tilting tray sorter system capable of handling up to 22 million passengers a year. This upgraded terminal provides modern services and amenities such as automated bag drops, e-gats, self-check-in kiosks, baggage handling, among others. In actual numbers these are 60 check-in counters and 30 self-check-in kiosks, 10 spots for self-bag-drop services, 16 immigration counters, and 16 screening areas for security purposes, 7 airline gates. Within the terminal there’s a shopping mall, restaurants and a parking garage beneath In 2018, the airport overtook Dubai as the leading gateway to Africa with an average of 450 planes per day arriving and departing. It is now the biggest airport aviation hub in Africa overtaking Johannesburg’s Tambo International Airport with 53000 passengers per year, more than 500 flights per day and 22 million passengers per year. As for Ethiopian Cargo, with its warehouses at both terminal 1 and 2, it now has the largest capacity in Africa, as it is able to store up to 1,000,000 tonnes of dry and perishable goods at a time. The airport two terminals have a total of 11 gates, plus more than 30 remote aircraft parking stands behind both Terminals. The airport has 6 taxiways, 23 metres wide each and 2 runways: Runway 1 is 3700 metres long and 45 metres wide and Runway 2 is 3800 metres long and 45 metres wide. The expansion also includes the newly opened five-star hotel within the airport complex.