More airlines to join Al Maktoum airport soon

Dubai Airports to announce more services in weeks or months

Dubai World Central’s Al Maktoum International airport, which started its passenger operations on Sunday, will see more airlines joining the airport soon, Dubai Airports chief executive officer Paul Griffiths said.

The opening of the airport’s passenger terminal was marked with the arrival of Wizz Air’s first flight from Budapest, Hungary, on Sunday morning.

“We have the MoUs with several airlines. I am sure once they see the success of this airport… a lot of airlines will be considering to be here in a few months,” Griffiths told reporters at a news conference.

“In 2010 we started [cargo operations] with one or two airlines and now we have got 36 regular operators. I am grateful to the airlines here today being the pioneer in getting the airport open today,” he said, adding that it is expected that more airlines and more services will be announced in weeks or months.

Dubai Airports has thus so far confirmed operations with three airlines. Wizz Air, which provides low-cost air transport across 30 countries with 16 bases across Europe, will provide non-stop services linking DWC to Central and Eastern Europe. Jazeera Airways will commence operations with two weekly flights starting October 31^st, 2013. Most recently, Gulf Air has announced its intention to start daily operations to Bahrain on December 8, 2013.

Griffiths said: “It’s a historic day as it’s not just airport but Dubai’s strategy to the world for aviation.”

“The location, convenience and compact nature of DWC are compelling attributes,” he said, adding: “Airline and customer interest in this airport continues to grow and we hope to announce additional services in the near future.”

Talking about the incentives to airlines for moving their operations from Dubai International airport to Al Maktoum International, he said: “Our rates are already very low as we don’t have very high level of taxation.”

He declined to provide any estimated cost of the first phase of the project, but said it’s part of the master development plan. Phase 1 of DWC includes a single A380 compatible runway; a passenger terminal with capacity of five million passengers per annum and expandable to seven million passengers per annum, a cargo terminal building with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per annum and a 92-metre air traffic control tower.

Three pioneer customers — Wizz Air, Jazeera Airways, Gulf Air — joined the news conference with Griffiths along with other top airport officials.

József Váradi, chief executive officer of Wizz Air, said: “I am very pleased that Wizz Air today operated the first scheduled passenger flight in the history of Dubai World Central Airport. We have now launched four routes to Dubai from Budapest, Kiev, Bucharest and Sofia and we are confident that our low fares will contribute to the growth of Dubai market.”

Gulf Air’s acting chief executive officer Maher Salman Al Musallam said that the airline will be the first full service airline to fly into Al Maktoum International. The new flight will attract those travellers who value the new airport’s convenience and proximity to new Dubai.