Closure of one of the two runways for 45 days at Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the first half of the year fuelled a decline in the gateway’s air cargo tonnage.
The UAE airport handled 1,036,474 tonnes of air freight during the period, a significant decline of 18.3 per cent on the same period last year.
A significant portion of cargo traffic at DXB is bellyhold as all freighter traffic now goes through Dubai World Central (DWC).
DBX’s southern runway rehabilitation programme, saw the runway close for 45 days between 16 April and 30 May and reduced the airport’s capacity. The number of flights operated during the first six months was 178,383, down 11.6 per cent on the same period last year.
