__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, September 24, 2012

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

Ethiopian Airports EnterpriseThe 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.

Bole Airport's Cargo & Maintenance Areas
Bole Airport's Cargo & Maintenance Areas (R Stehmann)
In other Bole Airport related news, Chinese aviation company AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China) is expected to begin expansion work on the maintenance hangar at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport with the cost put at around USD95 million. Currently, the project's design has been completed and it is now in the soil testing stage. Once construction is completed the multi-purpose hanger is expected to be used for maintanence on the airline's new fleet of 787s, 777s, 747 airplanes in addition to other types of aircraft.

Meanwhile, German firm ICM Airport Techniques and Ethiopian Airlines are said to be close to finalizing a deal to construct a new cargo warehouse at Bole, with a capacity to process 1.2million tons of cargo every year - similar in size to the Emirates SkyCargo Mega Terminal at Dubai Airport; one of the largest storage areas in the world. 

At present, Bole International Airport has a warehouse with a storage capacity of just 350 tons of cargo in addition to a cold storage area of 2000sqm which is barely enough for Ethiopian Airlines' Cargo division, whose tonnage hauled has more than doubled from 42'000t per year to 110'000t per year.