Dubai World Central (DWC) registered a surge in passenger numbers in 2019 with annual traffic exceeding 1.6 million, an increase of 81.5 per cent compared to 2018.

The sharp increase in customer numbers was primarily the result of the relocation of operations by a number of international carriers during the 45-day closure of Dubai International’s (DXB) southern runway for rehabilitation in April-May 2019.

Year-on-year traffic also increased in the final quarter of the year compared with 2018 as DWC welcomed 363,626 customers in Q4, up 38.2 per cent, mainly due to seasonal operations by chartered airlines.

Regions contributing to traffic growth at DWC during 2019 were CIS (583,763), followed by South Asia (380,000), and the GCC (281,244). Russia was the top country destination with 549,806 customers followed by Saudi Arabia (201,138) and India (193,900). The top cities served by the DWC network included Moscow (253,092), Budapest (60,098) and Jeddah (55,873)

There were 8,871 flights during Q4 bringing the annual total to 36,949 movements, an increase of 23.3 per cent compared to 2018.

With a total of 234,741 tonnes of freight in recorded in Q4, DWC’s annual cargo volume reached 911,571 tonnes, a decline of 7.7 per cent compared to figures recorded in 2018.

DWC is currently served by six passenger airlines which operate an average of 30 weekly flights to 45 international destinations around the world. DWC is also home to 17 cargo operators that operate to as many as 45 cities globally. - TradeArabia News Service