Flydubai, Qatar Airways boost Dubai World Central traffic by 80% in Q1

Dubai - Dubai's second airport welcomed 257,813 passengers during the first three months of the year, an increase of 79.8 per cent compared to 143,374 in the corresponding period in 2015.

Flydubai and Qatar Airways have boosted passenger traffic at Dubai World Central (DWC) by nearly 80 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, its operator Dubai Airports said on Thursday. Dubai's second airport welcomed 257,813 passengers during the first three months of the year, an increase of 79.8 per cent compared to 143,374 in the corresponding period in 2015.

The sharp increase in passenger traffic was spurred by demand on routes served by major carriers including flydubai and Qatar Airways among others and increased frequencies in 2016. The airport is served by 16 passenger carriers operating over 190 flights weekly to 25 international destinations. DWC is slowly starting to establish itself as Dubai's faster growing airport given how traffic has surged nearly 80 per cent in just three months of the year, according to a senior aviation analyst.
"Part of the key to this success is the fact that the airport is nowhere near as congested as Dubai International and that makes getting into the airport easier and allows passengers to get on their flights with ease and on time. Departure performance too is excelling projections and this will certainly aid time-conscious airlines like flydubai, who rely on timely departures to aid their business model," chief analyst at StrategicAero Research Saj Ahmad, told Khaleej Times.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: "We are very pleased with the growth at DWC and expect the trend to continue. It takes only minutes for passengers to get from kerb to gate and the arrivals process is similarly efficient. Customers who use DWC once, usually come back as a result."
Cargo operations 
Cargo volumes at Dubai World Central contracted in the first three months of 2016, with the facility handling 198,295 tonnes of freight compared to 213,006 tonnes in Q1 of 2015, down 6.9 per cent. DWC is home to 18 scheduled pure cargo operators that fly to as many as 57 destinations around the world. Aircraft movements totalled 10,631 in the first quarter of 2016, a marginal decrease of 0.6 per cent from the 10,699 movements recorded during the corresponding period last year. - abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com