DUBAI: Dubai World Central (DWC) welcomed a total of 326,680 passengers in the first quarter of 2019, down -2.3% year on year, mainly due to a fluctuation in charter operations.
Top destinations
Accounting for nearly 50% of the traffic, Russia was the single largest contributor to customer numbers at DWC during Q1 with 167,934 passengers. Other major destination countries included Germany (71,162 passengers), Romania (21,097 passengers) and Hungary (12,044 passengers). Some of DWC’s top destination cities during the quarter were Moscow (89,856 passengers), Bucharest (17,113 passengers), and Dusseldorf (12,387 passengers).
Flights
A total of 7,899 flights took off or landed at DWC during Q1 (-3.2% YoY).
Cargo
DWC moved a total of 43,114 tonnes of freight in Q1, a year on year decline of -9.3%.
Outlook
Passenger volumes at DWC are expected to spike in the second quarter as a direct result of a number of international airlines starting operations there following the closure of one of Dubai International’s two runways for a major refurbishment from April 16 to May 30th, 2019. The 45-day period is a great opportunity for DWC to showcase its newly expanded facilities that can now accommodate up to 26.5 million passengers.
DWC is served by 11 passenger airlines which operate an average of 146 weekly flights to 31 international destinations. It is also home to 18 cargo operators that fly to as many as 45 cities around the world. BIZ TODAY MONITOR
