Passenger traffic at Dubai World Central (DWC) surged to 1.2 million during the first half of 2019, compared to 517,813 during the same period in 2018. The increase follows the transfer of some flights by a number of airlines during the closure of Dubai International’s (DXB) southern runway for rehabilitation from April 16 to May 30. More than 900,000 of the total traffic in the first half was recorded just during the 45-day period, which is equal to the airport’s entire annual passenger traffic in 2018.
Key Facts and Figures
Customers served: DWC welcomed a total of 1,248,506 customers during the first half of 2019 (+141%).
Top destinations
Accounting for more than a quarter of the traffic, the South Asia region was the single largest contributor to traffic at DWC during H1 with 379,851 customers, closely followed by CIS with 312,083 passengers and the GCC with 281,184 customers. Other significant contributors include Eastern Europe and Western Europe with more than 100,000 customers each.
Russia was the top destination country during the first six months with passengers’ numbers exceeding 293,100, followed by Saudi Arabia (201,138 passengers), India (193,900) and Germany (89,416 passengers). Some of DWC’s top destination cities during the first half were Moscow (165,367 passengers), Jeddah (55,873 passengers), and Karachi (39,762 passengers).
Flights
A total of 22,127 flights took off or landed at DWC during H1 (+37.7% YoY).
Cargo
DWC moved a total of 450,000 tons of freight in H1, a year on year decline of 5.3% which is due to softening of overall air cargo market.
Preparations for the expanded operations at DWC during the 45 days was logistically the same as opening an airport the size of Glasgow overnight. Some 600 pieces of heavy equipment had to be moved to DWC to ready the facility to handle the additional traffic and ensure a seamless and smooth operation from day one.
Source: Dubai Airports