12. February 2025
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Airports and Airlines

Dubai World Central Airport (DWC)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Dubai World Central Airport (DWC)

Dubai World Central Airport (DWC)
3.3

Rating

 3.3/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Fast services
  • Modern facilities

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Remote location
  • Not too comfortable
  • Bus boarding only

Dubai World Central (DWC), also Dubai Al Maktoum International, is Dubai’s future hub in the making, according to the official website. In late December 2024 and early January 2025, the future main airport of the United Arab Emirates city was rather in the in the making process. Nonetheless, I had my first flights to and from there. As there is a growing number of connections to and from there, I felt it is a good time to share my thoughts about the travel experience I had. Here is my airport review.

 

Dubai World Central (DWC) – Location & Transport

Dubai World Central Airport (DWC) is located in the South of Dubai. Even though there is some development ongoing, the location is currently quite remote. The drive from Dubai Mall, for example, is over 50km. The closest touristic locations around are the Dubai Parks with Motiongate and Legoland Dubai and the Expo City (both roughly 20-25km). The distance is even more worse because the terminal building is on the South of the runways. Thus, if you come from Dubai, the last some ten kilometers lead you around Dubai Logistics city with facilities linked to the travel hub. The Driving distance to Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH) is roughly 110km.

However, there is currently just one passenger terminal. A total of five terminals is planned. Fully operational and completed one day, it is planned to be about five times the size of current Dubai International Airport (DXB).

There are two bus services connecting to Dubai World Central Airport (DWC). The direct F55 just connects the airport once an hour with Ibn Battuta Station (Dubai Metro) and takes some 40 minutes. There is also another bus, F55A, which is also going to Ibn Battuta, but then heads on North until Satwa bus station. The total ride time is 90 minutes. I would rather recommend taking an Uber or a taxi to the city center. We had our first night close to Dubai Mall, the taxi fare was about 180 AED, less than 40 Euro.

Dubai World Central (DWC) – Connections

Dubai World Central (DWC) is still majorly a freight airport. It does not feel that it could become one of the key airports of the world one day. However, the number of connections are increasing. Some rather low-cost carriers especially added connections in fall and winter 2024. For example, Condor and Eurowings have flights to Germany, Transavia is flying from France. There are also a couple of services to India. A major part of the connections (by several airlines like Aeroflot, S7 or Pobeda), however, are going to Russia, with a focus on Moscow. Another interesting connection is the Luxair flight from Luxembourg Airport (LUX).

 

Arriving at Dubai World Central (DWC)

At the moment, only a few arrival gates are operational. One weird consequence of that is that there are no jet bridges. All transfers are done by buses. The bus transfer from the parking position to the immigration gate took some ten minutes, also because the bus was driving very slowly. Immigration was a nightmare. All people without children (who are not allowed of that process) were sent to the Smart Gates. The quota of people who finally passed the gate was less than 10 per cent. You were then sent back to the ordinary line, which was not too long, but there were also not that many immigration officers.

After that, there is also a small arrival duty free shop. The luggage area and the arrivals hall do not feature an ATM, only a Forex office. Our luggage was at a belt, which already showed another flight, so that it was a bit of a search. I did not spot a screen which told me the right carousel. This area also comes with a small duty-free shop. From the flight arriving at the parking position to finally passing through customs and getting a taxi, it took us some two hours.

 

Departing from Dubai World Central (DWC)

Entering the airport building reminded me of Berlin-Tempelhof (THF) nowadays. The terminal feels reasonably large, but finally, there is very little operation from there, so that most of the check-in desks are not in use. The check-in opened strictly three hours before departure. The check-in agents were at their seats already for a couple of minutes already with people in the line, before the screens on the counters showed the Eurowings flight and they are ready to work. Not too surprisingly, the security procedures went very fast – the airport is running way below capacity. For emigration, the smart gates worked fine this time. Hand luggage check is done by new scanners, which is very convenient – you don’t have to take out electronics and similar items.

After security, there are a couple of duty free stores. They obviously cannot compare with the size and selection offered at Dubai International (DXB), but they get their job done. There are also a few food outlets around the gates. The atmosphere there at the bus position is very limited, though. On a gallery level, there is a fast food restaurant and a cafe. Overall, the bus boarding was quite fine. My flight departed at gate A1, where you do the boarding pass and passport check first before you enter a designated waiting area. Most of the other gates do these checks right before entering the bus. Quite some passengers had to do an additional security check at the gate. While leaving the bus, we had to show our boarding passes again. This felt to be solely done to move the passengers to the correct stairs (front or back) and felt a bit of weird.

 

Dubai World Central (DWC) – Services

Free WiFi is provided by the airport. There are a few car rental companies, including Avis, who nowadays provide car rental from the airport directly. Some others have meet and greet services. During 2024, when we booked our flights, none of these services were available, though. There are also some rental offices of other major brands like Hertz, which were not (yet) operational at the time of our flights.

Before departure, there is a lounge operational, the Marhaba Lounge Dubai World Central (DWC). I will feature it in a separate review.

 

Dubai World Central (DWC) – My View

Dubai World Central (DWC) is currently suffering from two constraints: its location and its lack of flights operated from there. The service level is sufficient, but not overwhelming. Of course, the fast emigration and security is a treat, but especially the airside departure area feels like an average regional bus station compared to its (currently still) significantly major brother airport. It will be interesting to see how that is changing and developing in the future.

 

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