Dubai World Central flights to climb 700% during runway revamp
Dubai World Central is set to absorb affected flights when Dubai International’s southern runway is refurbished from April 16 to May 30
Dubai World Central (DWC) will see the number of passenger flights skyrocket by 700% as it takes on additional traffic during the 45-day period when Dubai International’s southern runway is closed for refurbishment from April 16 to May 30, 2019.
The closure will reduce the hub airport’s capacity, making DWC an attractive alternative to absorb affected scheduled, charter, cargo and general aviation operations, Dubai Airports said.
Although Dubai International will effectively be without 50% of its runways, the actual reduction in passenger flights will only be 32% thanks to an optimized schedule that will see the northern runway used to 96% of its capacity, the airport operator said.
Due to the deployment of larger aircraft by some airlines during the closure period, the number of seats will only decrease by 26%. And thanks to the additional capacity provided by Dubai World Central, the number of flights across the Dubai Airport system will see a reduction of just 10% and a seat reduction of just 11%.
“We’re pleased that we have managed to maintain as much choice as possible for customers,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports. “The most significant change for passengers during the period will be the need to confirm the airport that they traveling to or from. That said, we’re confident customers and airlines will be impressed by the speed, efficiency and convenience of Dubai’s second airport. It’s a great opportunity to showcase DWC’s newly expanded facilities that can now accommodate up to 26.5 million passengers annually and we’re confident that it will shine.”
During the 45-day period, DWC will see an average of 158 passenger flight movements per day operated by two charter carriers and 16 scheduled airlines including flydubai, Aeroflot, Condor, Air India, SpiceJet, Gulf Air, Royal Jordanian, and Kuwait Airways.
