ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — When Noelle Jalal was a child, her uncle used to take her to the international airport in Addis Ababa to watch the giant Ethiopian Airlines Boeings come and go.

For years, the airport in Ethiopia’s capital was not just a hub for travelers: It was also a weekend destination for families like Ms. Noelle’s who came to see the first Boeings piloted by Africans.

Families took out-of-town visitors to the airport tower. Parents bought their children cotton candy and let them dash around the terminal’s corridors to work off the sugar high.

“Everyone I grew up with in Addis went to the airport,” said Ms. Noelle, a 30-year-old humanitarian aid worker who now lives in the Ivory Coast. “It was very close to my heart,” she said.