Passenger and freight growth spike at DWC in Q2
07-Aug-2014 Passenger and cargo traffic at Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) registered a major surge in the second quarter of 2014 following the temporary shift of an estimated 600 flights per week from Dubai International during a major runway upgrade project that concluded on July 20th and the permanent relocation of all cargo freighter operations.
Between April and June, DWC recorded 475,992 passengers, a sharp rise from 102,137 passengers that used the facility in the first quarter this year. The spike resulted from the temporary operation of select flights of a number of airlines including flydubai, Malaysian Airlines, Royal Brunei, PAL Express, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Jazeera Airways, and East Horizon.
Freight volumes also surged by triple-digits in the second quarter, recording 199,751 tonnes, up 308 per cent from the 48,955 tonnes recorded during the corresponding period in 2013. The year to date freight volumes reached 276,567 tonnes, up 168.7 per cent from 102,929 tonnes recorded during the first half of 2013.
The spike in cargo volumes this quarter resulted from the move of all Emirates SkyCargo freighter operations to DWC in May 2014. This follows a similar move by several scheduled freighter services including Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Cargolux that moved their operations to DWC late last year.
Propelled by the increased activity, aircraft movements also climbed sharply in the second quarter of 2014 to 13,697 movements, up 123 per cent from the 6,133 movements in the corresponding period of 2013. The year to date flight movements reached 23,662, compared to 10,237 during the first half of 2013, an increase of 131.1 per cent.
Commenting on the results, Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said, "We were particularly pleased with the airport's ability to smoothly absorb the rush in traffic and impress passengers with its speed, convenience and efficiency. While the growth in cargo will continue at DWC, we expect passenger traffic to return to Q1 levels in the next quarter as all temporary operations have already returned to Dubai International."