Dubai Air Freight Slides 1.5 Percent

Cargo volume at Dubai International Airport fell 1.5 percent last year, the first year-over-year decline at Dubai since the site pushed into the upper echelons of the world’s largest freight airports in the 1990s.

Dubai’s air freight business rebounded somewhat in December, inching up 0.8 percent year-over-year, but the Middle East’s largest cargo airport said waning consumer demand in Europe and the United States cut into the trans-shipment hub’s traffic from Asia.

“Cargo traffic was impacted by economic uncertainty in Europe and the USA which eroded consumer confidence and led to a drop in exports, notably from Asia,” said Dubai Airports.

The airport has more than tripled its cargo tonnage since 2001 and ranked as the world’s eighth-largest freight airport in 2010.

Meanwhile, the nearby Dubai World Central airport handled 89,729 tonnes of air freight last year, with some 36 airlines using the new facility for cargo charter operations.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said growth of sea-air traffic under bond via the port of Jebel Ali was “robust” and truck feeders between the two Dubai airports had worked well, helping Dubai increase volume year-over-year across the two airports.

-- Contact Mike King at michael@borderline.eu.com