Qatar's billionaire Al-Khayyat family is bidding to build Africa's largest airport in Ethiopia

The Al-Khayyat brothers, the Syrian-born Qatari billionaire brothers behind one of the Gulf's fastest-growing privately held conglomerates, is moving aggressively into Africa's infrastructure pipeline, bidding to build Ethiopia's planned $12.5 billion airport near Addis Ababa and eyeing a 400-kilometre highway project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Power International Holding, the family's Qatar-based conglomerate, is pursuing both contracts through its construction subsidiary UCC Holding. Boyd Merrett, group chief executive of UCC Holding, confirmed the bids in an interview in Kigali on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum, where he described Africa as a rapidly growing share of the group's business. "Africa is becoming a much larger percentage of our business," he said. Construction on the Ethiopia airport project would begin in 2027 if UCC secures the contract, he added.

The Bishoftu International Airport project, located approximately 45 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, is designed to become the largest airport on the African continent. Ethiopian Airlines is leading the development, which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially launched in January 2026, calling it the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa's history. Phase one, expected by 2030, will handle up to 60 million passengers annually, with long-term capacity planned at 110 million passengers, which would surpass current throughput at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The project will be partly funded by Ethiopian Airlines, which is financing 30 percent, with lenders covering the rest. Some $610 million has already been allocated for earthworks, with main construction scheduled to begin in August 2026.

Moutaz Al-Khayyat, born in 1983 and educated at the University of the West of Scotland, co-founded PIH and UCC alongside his brother Ramez in 2011. The family's conglomerate has expanded across construction, energy, telecoms, agriculture, hospitality and real estate in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. Their African footprint already includes Rwanda's Bugesera airport under construction, energy infrastructure in Libya, hospital developments in Algeria and plans to bring 30,000 dairy cows from the United States for an Algerian milk processing project.

Moutaz Al-Khayyat gained significant international recognition during the Gulf diplomatic crisis between 2017 and 2021, when Qatar faced food supply shortages after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties with Doha. He co-founded Baladna Food Industries, which famously airlifted approximately 4,000 cows into Qatar to strengthen domestic milk production under blockade conditions. Baladna later completed a successful listing on the Qatar Stock Exchange.

The DRC highway project under consideration is a 400-kilometre road, the details of which were not disclosed further in the Kigali interview. The DRC has the largest road infrastructure deficit in sub-Saharan Africa by many measures, with vast interior distances and limited paved road coverage hampering trade, agricultural logistics and economic integration.

PIH's Africa expansion reflects a broader Gulf investor shift toward the continent that has accelerated since 2023. UAE state-backed firms have led that charge, spanning agriculture, mining, renewable energy and ports. But other Gulf players are now following the same trajectory, and the Al-Khayyat family's decision to target airport and highway contracts in Ethiopia and the DRC specifically places them at the intersection of two of Africa's highest-priority infrastructure categories at a moment when development finance for both is relatively available and political appetite among host governments is strong.