Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest airline, has successfully unveiled its new passenger terminal at Bole international airport last week. The flag carrier ensured the terminal was designed with a focus on Bio- security and Bio- safety measures.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s Capital city, houses Bole International Airport. The Airport serves as Ethiopian Airline’s central hub. the Amenities in the new terminal are equipped with 60 check-in counters and 30 self-check-in kiosks. There are ten spots for self bag drop services, 16 immigration counters, and 16 screening areas for security purposes.
Further, the development of the terminal needed to accommodate the wide body aircraft. There are three contact gates for the planes and ten remote contact gates, which includes travelators, panoramic lifts, and escalators.
Aviation24 reported that there are 32 counters and eight e-gate provisions at the arrival section. these are on the mezzanine floor level.
CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam expressed his gratitude for the opening of the new terminal. He acknowledged that from 2019, Bole International Airport had become the leading gate way to Africa, taking over Dubai’s spot. He added.
“What makes the new terminal unique is that it is the first terminal that would be completed after Covid- 19. It was designed, not re-purposed, with Bio- safety and Bio- security in mind. I am sure our esteemed customers will highly appreciate that.”
The global Pandemic impacted the terminal’s design. In essence the carrier put significant focus on Bio= security and Bio-safety measures. Bio-security mainly refers to efforts aimed at preventing the spread of harmful diseases or organisms, through limiting contact between passengers for instance.
ETHIOPIA’S VISION 2025
Opening a new terminal is a significant part of Ethiopia’s vision 2025 project. Essentially, one of the core pillar is aviation infrastructure expansion. Vision 2025 is Ethiopian 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, one being securing the right fleet. At the moment, the carrier has 121 planes, ranging from Boeing 787s to Airbus A350s.
The next pillar is on infrastructure, as aforementioned. In 2017, Ethiopioan Airlines opened its Cargo Terminal-2 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, Ethiopia aims to improve its systems. It has since automated all its procedures and is moving forward to becoming a paperless airline.
