Passenger traffic at Dubai World Central (DWC) jumped by 95.4 per cent in the first six months of the year on the back of flydubai’s operations.
More than 410,000 passengers passed through the concourses of Dubai’s second airport in the first half compared with nearly 210,000 in the same period last year.
Flydubai, in addition to its operations at Dubai International’s Terminal 2, operates 35 weekly flights to five destinations from DWC.
“We are very pleased with the way DWC has performed in the first half and look forward to all-round growth during the remainder of the year,” said Paul Griffiths, the chief executive of Dubai Airports.
“Already one of the world’s top 20 international cargo hubs, we hope to see DWC play an increasingly important role for passenger operations as it undergoes expansion to accommodate 26 million passengers by 2018.”
DWC is served by 17 passenger carriers operating an average of 174 flights weekly and is home to 34 scheduled cargo operators.
Freight volumes showed a contraction of 2.9 per cent in the first half compared with a year earlier.
The area surrounding DWC, known as Dubai South, incorporating eight integrated districts and home to Expo 2020, will receive an investment of Dh10 billion, according to the Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
ascott@thenational.ae
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