Dubai World Central airport passenger traffic up 26% in Q3

Dubai World Central (DWC), the emirate’s second airport, saw passenger traffic surge 26.1 per cent in the third quarter.

The future aviation hub, also known as Al Maktoum International, welcomed 119,000 passengers during the period but still saw traffic decrease 1.9 per cent in the first nine months as a whole compared to the same period in 2017.

Read: Russian surge boosts Dubai World Central passenger traffic in 2017

Western Europe (40,349) and Eastern Europe (38,740) accounted for the majority of the traffic.

Flight movements were down 11.7 per cent during the three-month period to 5,742 and total flights for the nine-month period were down 12.3 per cent.

The total freight handled by the airport in the third quarter was also down 2.5 per cent year-on-year to 254,421 tonnes but up 3.5 per cent in year-to-date terms.

Dubai Airports said the outlook for the fourth quarter was positive “thanks to the seasonal rush of tourists typically seen during the winter months, as well as the launch of new services from scheduled and charter carriers”.

These include the recent launch of daily scheduled flights to Moscow by Aeroflot.

Read: Russia’s Aeroflot to begin Moscow, Dubai World Central flights

Dubai World Central is eventually intended to replace Dubai International Airport as the emirate’s main aviation hub.

However, airport executives have indicated the timeline for this will likely be pushed back.

Read: Dubai International Airport to remain main hub for next 10 years

It was reported last month that a $36bn expansion plan at DWC to enable it to handle 125 million passengers a year had been delayed.

A smaller expansion is meant to be completed this year after being pushed back from 2017.

Read more: Dubai’s $36bn Al Maktoum airport expansion put on hold