Airports Lack Master Plans, Title Deeds

Jul 22 , 2026. By NAHOM AYELE ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

A new performance audit by the Office of the Auditor General found that 22 of the airports run by the Ethiopian Airlines Group lack master plans, and that some operate without land-use plans or title deeds. As the Group races to expand its network, the audit found that the basics of planning and safety have not kept pace. It covers airport infrastructure and non-aeronautical revenue in the 2024/25 fiscal year.

Most airports under the Ethiopian Airlines Group (EAG) lack master plans, and some operate without land-use plans or title deeds, a new audit by the Office of the Auditor General revealed.

The finding identified gaps at the Dire Dawa, Meqelle, Bahir Dar, Gondar, and Kebri Dehar airports, finding that their Airport  safety management system (SMS) not fully implemented, and at Lalibela and Neqemte, which lacked adequate perimeter fencing, allowing animals to stray into the compounds.

As the Group races to expand its network, the audit found that the basics of planning and safety have not kept pace. The findings come from a performance audit of the Group's airport infrastructure and its management of non-aeronautical revenue in the 2024/25 fiscal year and even before.

The audit is part of a wider review in which the Auditor General’s Office examined 40 public institutions for compliance with operational and financial rules. The EAG ran 23 airports, with six more under construction, when the audit was held and the audit excluded Bole International Airport when counting the 22 without master plans.

According to the Auditor General Office, under Meseret Damtie, the assessment identified several problems in airport safety and infrastructure, including construction delays, the absence of planning studies before development, and hazards around the facilities. Birds, construction work, and animals wandering onto airport grounds have created obstacles and risks for aircraft, the report found, and some airports have not fully implemented the Airport Safety Management System, the framework meant to identify and manage aviation risk.

The Group’s senior executives did not accept all of the performance audit findings. Under Mesfin Tassew, chief executive officer (CEO), the Group acknowledged the safety-system gaps but disclosed corrective steps were under way, with a manual on safety management system prepared and awaiting implementation once the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority approves it.

On fencing, Mesfin's Office said, a procurement process was underway to buy materials from abroad and bring the boundaries up to standard.

The Auditor General's Office was unconvinced, arguing that it found "this difficult to accept," and noting that Ethiopian Airlines had produced no documents showing it had formally requested support from the Civil Aviation Authority, an absence weakened its response.

The masterplans were the sharper dispute. The report found 22 airports without them and 15 without land-use plans, both considered essential for guiding development and for shielding aviation zones from activities incompatible with airports. The audit report named Arba Minch, Gambela and Yabelo as facilities without property title deeds.

Mesfin's Office countered that the site plans already in place serve as master plans. It argued that complete title deeds would be drawn up as the airports grew and their needs became clearer. The three without deeds are newly built, and the Group is working to secure the papers.

Meseret's Office rejected that too, arguing the documents her Office wants to see are not optional but standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and that the missing deeds leave the ownership of infrastructure built with public money uncertain.

“The wider picture takes in construction near airports, weak fencing, livestock crossing in from neighbouring communities, airports sitting close to major roads, and residents slaughtering animals or dumping waste near the grounds, hazards visible even at Bole International Airport,” said the Auditor General.

The audit lands as the Group presses on with one of the country's most ambitious building programmes. More than 80 years old and flying to 145 international and local destinations, the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise was reincorporated as a Group. With more than 20,000 employees, it recently opened its 25th airport, at Debre Markos in the East Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Regional State, having built five new airports in eight years.

At the Debre Markos opening, Mesfin cast the building as a mission.

“One of the Airline's missions is to build, expand, and modernise our country's aviation infrastructure," he said. "To achieve this mission, the Airline is allocating a significant amount of money to construct numerous airfields and passenger terminals."

The Debre Markos project alone cost 1.4 billion Br. The far bigger bet is the 12.6 billion dollars Bishoftu International Airport, planned to relieve the capacity squeeze at Bole.

“We’re currently building in Bishoftu town to expand our international airline services,” Mesfin said. “Our goal is to provide safe, reliable, and accessible air transport services."

The project is estimated to handle 60 million passengers a year during the first phase, rising to 110 million, and is planned to open around 2030 as the main international hub, with Bole kept for domestic and selected international flights.

That, for the Group, is the point the audit misses. It argued back that Ethiopian Airlines “doesn’t run purely for profit but carries a duty to widen access and support national development, even where an investment does not pay soon.”

It is a view shared by aviation experts such as Yonatan Menkir, who criticised the performance audit assessment for not fully weighing the Airline's role beyond business, applying the same yardstick used for other state firms without recognising what makes this one different.

“The auditor conducts an objective audit based on principles,” said Yonatan, who is also a founder of Menkir Aviation Consulting. “They don’t look at the unique circumstances of each institution. This is a gap in the audit.”

According to Yonatan, the audit “blurred the line” between a regulator's job and an Airline's role in building and operating airports. EAG has long invested in routes and infrastructure that did not pay off immediately but later drove growth.

"When the Airline started flights to West Africa, it wasn’t profitable, but now it is,” Yonatan told Fortune. “They were investing in the future, and now they are profitable."

He argued that major projects such as the Bishoftu airport should be judged by their long-term contribution rather than immediate returns, since the absence of an early profit does not mean an investment lacks value when it is meant to seed future growth.

"The Group deserves praise for not running at a loss while operating through all of this," said Yonatan, convinced that the Group weighs accessibility, regional inclusion and public interest alongside the commercial case. “It deserves credit.”

Yonatan also questioned whether the Airline should carry sole blame for the missing ownership papers, since regional governments have a hand in securing land and documentation, and stated that the sector has seen no major safety incident tied to the issues the audit raised.

“Some findings seemed more intent on cataloguing deficiencies than reading the broader context,” he said. “Some airports exist to serve tourism and regional development, ends that should count when their performance is weighed.”

The Office of the Auditor General held its ground. The findings, the Auditor General maintained, require attention and correction, and the gaps in planning, safety, and compliance should be closed to raise the standard of airport management.

PUBLISHED ON Jul 22,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1368]