Addis Ababa Bole International Airport handled 29,528 passengers on 17 July 2019—21,028 departing and 8,500 arriving—the busiest single day recorded at the terminal at the time, New Business Ethiopia and 2merkato reported.
Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (Vob08, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0) [file photo]
Getaneh Adera, director of Bole International Airport and acting CEO of Ethiopian Airports, linked the surge to the partial opening of a new terminal that was set to more than double capacity. The expansion was designed to lift annual capacity to about 22 million passengers.
As the home base of Ethiopian Airlines, then Africa’s largest carrier by destinations and serving more than 120 cities, Addis Ababa had become a major long-haul transit hub into Africa. The previous year it had surpassed Dubai as the top transit point for long-haul passengers into the continent, according to the reports citing aviation trade coverage.
Sources: New Business Ethiopia; 2merkato