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DUBAI / WAM
Air freight traffic at Dubai’s second airport, Dubai World Central (DWC), rose 7.7 percent during 2015, according to the year-end traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports.
Air cargo volumes for the year totalled 888,714 tonnes, up 7.7 percent from 824,933 tonnes recorded during 2014. Year-on-year cargo volumes increased despite a dip in fourth quarter traffic when DWC handled 228,770 tonnes of freight, down 9.9 percent from 253,932 tonnes recorded during same quarter in 2014.
DWC welcomed 179,781 passengers in Q4, up 62 percent from the 110,920 who used the facility during the same period in 2014. Passenger numbers rose thanks to the introduction of flights operated by flydubai from October 2015.
“DWC is entering an exciting new phase of its development as we expand the facility to prepare for additional operations from flydubai,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.
“Just five years after its opening, DWC has risen up the ranks to take the 18th position in terms of international cargo volumes. As passenger services continue to ramp up DWC, it will similarly elevate its status as an attractive option to DXB for passengers,” pointed out Griffiths.
For the full year, DWC welcomed 463,236 passengers in 2015, down 45.2 percent from the 845,046 recorded during 2014. Both cargo and passenger numbers in 2014 were inflated by additional services operated into DWC while Dubai International was reduced to a single runway airport as a result of the runway refurbishment project.
Aircraft movements in Q4 rose 3.1 percent to 12,052 compared to 11,687 movements during the same period last year. Full year aircraft movements reached 42,055, down 11.8 percent from 47,655 movements recorded in 2014, again due to the one-off spike in activity created by the runway project at DXB.
DWC is Dubai’s airport of the future. DWC opened the doors to its 5-7 million capacity passenger terminal passengers on October 27, 2013, while cargo operations were launched much earlier on June 27, 2010. Upon completion, DWC will become the world’s largest airport with an ultimate capacity of more than 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo per annum.