Dubai’s DWC airport sees passenger traffic soar

Dubai's second airport has benefited from long-term expansion plans and is now attracting a fast-growing number of passengers, spurring arrivals and departures to new records.

Flydubai helped passenger growth at DWC to soar compared with the same period last year. Sharif Karim / Reuters

Not content with being among the world’s top 20 international freight hubs, Dubai World Central (DWC) Al Maktoum International airport is fast becoming a favourite for air passengers, too.

DWC has reported passenger traffic surging 161 per cent in the third quarter, according to a report issued by operator Dubai Airports today.

The airport welcomed 191,950 passengers during the third-quarter, a huge increase on the 73,466 passengers recorded during the same period last year. Year-to-date, passenger traffic totalled 602,228 passengers, up 112 per cent compared with 283,455 recorded during the first nine months in 2015. Passenger traffic growth at DWC is mainly driven by flydubai, one of Dubai’s two flagship carriers that, in addition to its operations at Dubai International’s Terminal 2, operates 35 weekly flights to five destinations from DWC. Qatar Airways and Wizz Air are the two other major carriers carrying out scheduled passenger operations from DWC.

The three passenger carriers operate an average of 140 flights weekly to 10 international destinations from DWC, which is also home to 32 scheduled cargo operators that connect the airport to as many as 107 destinations around the world.

“We are very happy with the way passenger traffic has been growing at DWC, but this is only the beginning,” said Paul Griffiths, the chief executive of Dubai Airports. “By the end of next year the airport will see tremendous growth as it becomes the new home for flydubai. The project to expand the annual capacity of the passenger terminal at DWC from 5 million to 26 million passengers in underway and on track to be completed by the third quarter of 2017.”

Once complete, the passenger terminal will provide a total of 24 boarding gates, seven baggage reclaim carousels and 104 check-in desks.

During the third quarter DWC handled 215,556 tonnes of freight compared to 219,131 tonnes during the corresponding period in 2015, down 1.6 per cent. Year-to-date cargo volume as at the end of September reached 645,698 tonnes, a contraction of 2.5 per cent compared with the 662,143 tonnes recorded during the first nine months of 2015.

Aircraft movements in the third quarter totalled 8,679 compared with 9,137 during the same period last year, a fall of 5 per cent. Year-to-date aircraft movements in September reached 28,877 down 3.8 per cent from 30,003 movements recorded in the first nine months of 2015.

Dubai Airports manages the operation and development of both of Dubai’s airports – Dubai International (DXB) and DWC. DXB is the world’s number one airport in terms of international passenger traffic and number three globally in terms of total passenger traffic as reported by Airports Council International.

DXB ranks second globally for international cargo traffic.

By 2020, the contribution of the local aviation sector is projected to grow to US$53.1 billion, or 37.5 per cent of GDP, and will support 754,500 jobs, or 29.5 per cent of the workforce, according to Dubai Airports’ website. By 2030, aviation is expected to contribute $88.1bn and will support 1,194,700 jobsin the emirate.

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