Abu Dhabi: Air freight traffic at Dubai World Central (DWC) rose 15.9 per cent during the first nine months of this year, with cargo reaching 662,143 tonnes at the end of September — up from 571,00l tonnes during the same period in 2014.
Operator, Dubai Airports, said in a statement on Thursday that year-on-year cargo volumes increased despite a dip in volumes during the third quarter when DWC handled 219,131 tonnes of freight.
The quarterly figures, meanwhile, were down 15.6 per cent from 259,636 tonnes recorded during same quarter in 2014.
Both passenger and cargo traffic at DWC registered contractions in Q3 2015 due to the impact of increase in activity at the airport resulting from the 90-day closure of a runway at Dubai International for refurbishment.
In the third quarter alone, DWC welcomed 73,466 passengers, marking a 52.9 per cent drop compared to the 155,997 recorded during the corresponding period in 2014. The year-to-date traffic totalled 283,455 passengers — down 61.4 per cent from the 734,126 recorded during the first nine months in 2014.
Aircraft movements in the third quarter totalled 9,137 compared to 10,784 movements during the same period last year, marking a 15.2 per cent drop.
