The passenger traffic at Dubai World Central (DWC), the emirate's second airport, reached 1.3 million for the first nine months of the year despite a seasonal contraction in traffic volumes during the third quarter, according to a figures released by operator Dubai Airports.

DWC welcomed 21,926 customers during the third quarter, down 81.6 per cent mainly due to seasonal fluctuation in traffic during the summer, taking the year to date traffic to 1.27 million (over 99.4 per cent).

The high growth in year-to-date traffic is the result of the launch of temporary operations by a number of airlines during the 45-day closure of one of the two runways at Dubai International, DXB, in May-April earlier this year, it stated.

South Asia was the single largest contributor to traffic at DWC during the first nine months of the year with 379,851 customers, closely followed by CIS (313,167) and the GCC (281,184). Other significant contributors include Eastern Europe (127,087) and Western Europe (105,906 customers), said the report.

Russia was the top destination country with 294,145 customers, followed by Saudi Arabia (201,138), India (193,900) and Pakistan (107,112 customers). Some of DWC’s top destination cities during the period under review were Moscow (166,412 customers), Jeddah (55,873), and Karachi (39,762).

DWC recorded a total of 5,948 flights in the third quarter (+3.6 percent) taking the year to date tally to 28,078 flights (+28.7 percent) at the end of September.

The softening of demand in the cargo sector continued in the third quarter with DWC handling 226,830 tonnes (-10.8 percent), bringing the year to date cargo volumes to 676,830 tonnes (-7.2 percent), according to the report.

DWC is currently served by 16 passenger airlines operating an average of 160 weekly flights to 37 international destinations. DWC is also home to 20 cargo operators that fly to as many as 43 cities around the world, it added.-TradeArabia News Service