Passenger traffic at DWC Airport boosted up to 95.4% in the first half

Passenger traffic at Dubai's second airport, Dubai World Central (DWC) continued the upward trend in the first half of the year surging more than 95 per cent, according to the traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports.

Passenger traffic for the first six months of the year totalled 410,278, up 95.4 per cent compared to 209,989 passengers recorded during the corresponding period in 2015. Passenger traffic at DWC is mainly driven by flydubai, one of Dubai’s two flagship carriers which in addition to its operations at Dubai International’s Terminal 2, operates 35 weekly flights to five destinations from DWC. The airline will increase its weekly flights from DWC for the upcoming winter schedule.

DWC is currently served by 17 passenger carriers, operating an average of 174 flights weekly to 39 international destinations and is home to 34 scheduled cargo operators that fly to as many as 141 destinations around the world.

The surge in passenger operations at DWC contributed significantly to aircraft movements which totalled 18,126 in the first half of the year, up 4.8 per cent compared to 17,302 movements recorded during the first six months of 2015.

During the period under review freight volumes at DWC totalled 430,132 tonnes, a contraction of 2.9 per cent compared to the first half of 2015 when the airport handled 443,011 tonnes of freight.

“We are very pleased with the way DWC has performed in the first half and look forward to all round growth during the remainder of the year. Already one of the world’s top 20 international cargo hubs, we hope to see DWC play an increasingly important role for passenger operations as it undergoes expansion to accommodate 26 million passengers by 2018,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

Analyst Saj Ahmad said: “Dubai World Central's first half performance growth may be thankful for the traffic growth courtesy of flydubai, but the airport itself is still drawing in passengers that want to fly from a less congested hub. 

“Flydubai's handful of routes has helped swell numbers for the first half, the real growth will emerge late next year when the airline moves it's entire operations to Dubai World Central and become the largest operator there.” 

Ahmad added: “Not only will this unlock flydubai's true organic growth strategy, it will also favour cost and time conscious travellers who can benefit from DWC's available capacity‎ which in turn drives further passenger appeal.

“And with flydubai being one of the early customers for the 737MAX next year, as it's fleet expands, traffic movement at DWC will rise sharply too.”

Arabian Aerospace