Air freight quarterly volumes at Dubai World Central skyrocket 153pc

DUBAI World Central-Al Maktoum International Airport has achieved growth of 153 per cent in second quarter 2012 air freight volumes at 56,271 tonnes, compared to the 22,252 tonnes handled during the corresponding period last year.

The Middle Eastern airport posted a year-on-year increase of 226 per cent in cargo volume handled in the six-month period to the end of June at 106,333 tonnes, up from 32,634 tonnes for the first half of 2011.

A statement from DWC said the first half results follow robust growth in the first quarter when year-on-year freight volume at the airport shot up by 382 per cent. DWC began serving air cargo carriers in June 2010.

DWC's air traffic movements saw a similarly dramatic upswing in the second quarter. Aircraft movements rose 136 per cent to 3,961 from 1,676 recorded during Q2 2011. Year-to-date movements rose from 2,526 in the first half of 2011 to 7,474 in the first half of 2012, an increase of 196 per cent.

Airport authorities said the growth is mainly being driven by a number of large non-commercial contracts secured late last year as well as additional charter and scheduled services also introduced during 2011.

Notable milestones during the first half of the year include the launch of thrice-weekly flights from Riyadh by Saudi Airlines Cargo. DWC currently has 36 carriers signed up and operating while negotiations with a number of others are ongoing.

"Dubai Airports' total cargo volumes are expected to top four million tonnes by 2020 and an increasing portion of that growth is expected to spill over to DWC. Right now we are seeing tremendous incremental growth as airlines come to recognise the many advantages that DWC offers them," said Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths, adding that the airport's proximity to a bonded road connection with the free zone and port at Jebel Ali and the easy availability of take-off and landing slots are very attractive to cargo carriers.

Atlanta area Air Cargo World also reported the staggering growth in air freight volumes at DWC to the presence of dnata, Emirates Airline's ground-handling subsidiary. This comes as dnata handled 127,665 tonnes of cargo at its terminal at DWC, FreightGate-8, during fiscal year 2011-2012, representing a year-on-year increase of 700 per cent.