{
  "id": 11691564,
  "title": "Johannesburg and Addis Ababa compete to become Africa’s leading aviation hub",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/03/johannesburg-and-addis-ababa-compete-to-become-africas-leading",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-03T13:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IOL",
    "slug": "iol",
    "url": "https://iol.co.za/travel/africa/2026-10-03-johannesburg-and-addis-ababa-compete-to-become-africas-leading-aviation-hub/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Two African cities, Johannesburg and Addis Ababa, are competing to become the continent's leading aviation hub. According to the OAG's Megahubs 2026 report, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport is currently ranked 40th globally, while Addis Ababa Bole International Airport holds the 50th position among the world's most connected airports. Both airports are the only African entries in the global Top 50.\n\nThe ranking is based on the number of scheduled connections and destinations served on the busiest day of the year. Johannesburg's airport benefits from a more distributed airline mix due to Airlink's operations, while Addis Ababa's airport is built around Ethiopian Airlines' expanding long-haul and African network, which accounts for 94% of its flights.\n\nThe competition is becoming more important due to the increasing number of scheduled seats on African airlines and international carriers. In September 2026, African airlines and international carriers scheduled 25.8 million seats, a 9.4% increase from the previous year. Addis Ababa's capacity was up 6.5% year-on-year, while Johannesburg's rose 5.0%.\n\nAddis Ababa's Bole International Airport is nearing its expanded capacity of 25 million passengers a year, prompting the construction of a new airport, Bishoftu International Airport. The project, expected to cost US$12.5 billion, will handle 60 million passengers a year by 2030 and 110 million passengers in total with four runways and parking for 270 aircraft. Ethiopian Airlines is also expanding its network, launching daily nonstop flights to Durban and adding four weekly flights to Port Harcourt.",
  "summary": "Johannesburg remains Africa’s most connected aviation hub, while Addis Ababa is expanding capacity and routes to challenge its position.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}