Al Maktoum airport crosses 100,000-mark in Q1

Passenger and freight volumes at Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) continued to grow strongly in the first quarter of 2014 as more airlines commenced operations at Dubai’s second airport.

Since the opening of the new passenger terminal on October 27, 2013, passenger volumes at DWC continued to gain momentum, with 102,137 passengers passing through the airport in the first three months of the year. This was the first full quarter of operations since the new terminal was opened, Dubai Airports said in a statement on Wednesday.

In March 2014, Qatar Airways joined Wizz Air, Al Jazeera Airways and Gulf Air which already operate flights from Dubai’s second airport, offering twice daily flights to Doha from DWC.

The growth trend is expected to escalate in the second quarter of 2014 with more than 600 flights per week temporarily moving over from Dubai International – where both runways will be refurbished and upgraded between May 1 and July 20, 2014. Among the airlines is flydubai, which will operate a select number of flights from DWC in addition to flights from Dubai International’s Terminal 2.

Freight volumes also rose, recording 76,816 tonnes in the first three months of the year, up 42.3 per cent from the 53,974 tonnes achieved during the first quarter of 2013.

Volumes were boosted by the introduction of several new scheduled freighter services with Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Cargolux all moving their dedicated freighter flights to DWC since the end of last year. This has increased weekly scheduled freighter flights to more than 60.

This growth trend is expected to be maintained, with Emirates SkyCargo joining the move to DWC in May when it moves all dedicated freighters to the airport.

As a result of the increased activity, aircraft movements climbed sharply in the first quarter of 2014 to 9,965 movements, up 142.8 per cent from the 4,104 movements in the first three months of 2013.

“It was a gratifying quarter of growth for DWC. Passengers appreciate the simplicity of using the new passenger terminal which allows them to quickly move from kerbside to the gate. The airport will also play a vital role in the runway upgrades at Dubai International, with a number of passenger airlines relocating to DWC for the duration of the works,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.
 

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