Royal Jordanian Airlines (Arabic: الملكية الأردنية; transliterated: Al-Malakiyyah al-'Urduniyyah) is the flag carrier of Jordan with its head office in Amman, Jordan,[1] operating scheduled international services over four continents from its main base at Queen Alia International Airport at Amman (AMM) Jordan. Royal Jordanian (RJ) is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization and Oneworld; a global airline alliance. Royal Jordanian won the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation award for "Airline Turnaround of the Year 2006" on 9 November 2006.[2] The airline operates over 500 flights per week, with at least 110 daily departures. Royal Jordanian was voted "Airline of the Year 2007" by Airfinance Journal.
The airline was established on 9 December 1963 and started operations on 15 December 1963 after a royal decree by the late King Hussein. It was named Alia (or Aalya) after King Hussein's wife Alia Al-Hussein ( Queen Alia). It is a common misconception that the airline was named after the King's third wife, Queen Alia. The airline was founded with capital from private shareholders but the Jordanian government later took over the company.[citation needed]
Alia (the Royal Jordanian Airline) started operations with two Handley Page Dart Heralds and a Douglas DC-7 aircraft, serving Kuwait City, Beirut and Cairo from Amman. In 1964, another DC-7 was added and service began to Jeddah. In 1965, Alia initiated service to Rome, its first destination in Europe. The progress made by the airline was threatened by an Israeli air raid during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War when the DC-7 aircraft were destroyed. They were replaced by two Fokker F-27 airliners.
In 1968, the airline expanded its route pattern to Nicosia, Benghazi, Dhahran and Doha. 1969 saw the addition of service to Munich, Istanbul and Tehran.
In 1970, Alia joined the jet age when they phased out the F-27s and ordered Boeing 707 aircraft. Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi were added to the network. The 707s were delivered in 1971. In that year, service was initiated to Madrid, Copenhagen and Karachi. During the rest of the decade, Boeing 720/727s and Boeing 747s were added to the fleet. A catering department was established, and duty-free shops were opened at Amman airport. Services were added to destinations including: Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat, Rabat, Geneva, Amsterdam, Baghdad, Bangkok, Vienna, Larnaca replacing Nicosia, Damascus, New York City, Houston, and Ras al-Khaimah. In 1979, Alia became a founding member of the Arab Airlines Technical Consortium (AATC).
In the 1980s, Tunis and Tripoli joined the route map, and Alia's IBM computer center was inaugurated. Lockheed L-1011s, Airbus A310s and Airbus A320s joined the fleet. In 1986, Alia changed its name to Royal Jordanian. The airline's first woman pilot flew one of their aircraft during this decade. Service was added to Belgrade, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Bucharest, Singapore, Riyadh, Kuala Lumpur – in cooperation with MAS, Sana'a, Moscow, Montreal, Delhi, Calcutta and Ankara. This decade also saw the introduction of the Gabriel Automated Ticket System – (GATS).
The 1990s saw further expansion. Royal Jordanian and nine other Arab air carriers signed up for the Galileo CRS. The IMCS maintenance and engineering system was added, a new Amman city air terminal was opened at the 7th Circle of the Jordanian capital, and services to Rafah started, since then halted. The cities of Toronto, Colombo, Jakarta, Berlin, Mumbai, Milan and Tel Aviv were added to the network. In November, 1997 Royal Jordanian became a code-sharing partner with the US carrier TWA and eventually moved operations into the TWA Flight Center (Terminal 5) at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
In 2000, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) renewed the airline's maintenance and engineering department's license. The duty-free shop was among the services to be privatised. A holding company, RJI, wholly owned by the government, was incorporated as a public limited company in February 2001 to hold all the airline's and associated investments. The airline's name was changed on 5 February 2001 to Alia – The Royal Jordanian Airlines Company, although travellers still use the popular name of Royal Jordanian.
On 10 February 1996, the flag carrier's subsidiary Royal Wings started its first domestic service to Aqaba, the seaport on the Gulf of Aqaba, using a Fokker F-27. Royal Wings now operates an Airbus A320-212 aircraft on both scheduled and charter services to destinations in Egypt, Cyprus and Israel.
On 20 December 2006, Royal Jordanian announced that they would replace two Airbus A321s with two new units, and order four new Airbus A319s to enter service in early 2008.
In April 2007, Royal Jordanian became part of Oneworld, thus becoming the first Arab airline to join such a global alliance system. The following month, the airline announced an order for a total of 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, for service entry in 2010. This is the first order Royal Jordanian has placed with Boeing.[3]
Montreal, Canada, rejoined the network on 25 May 2007, after the route was cancelled in 1997. Also during May, Royal Jordanian was the sponsor of the World Economic Forum, which was held at the Dead Sea, Jordan.
On 11 July 2007, Royal Jordanian celebrated thirty years of non-stop service between Amman and New York City, making it the longest serving Arab airline to this gateway to the U.S.. RJ won the "Airline Strategy Award" in the technology category at the sixth annual Airline Strategy Awards on 16 July 2007. On 23 July, RJ saw the introduction of cargo flights, Damascus being the first destination served from Amman, using a Boeing 737.
Royal Jordanian made its first flight to Budapest, on 28 July, using an Embraer 195. In October, RJ announced the switch of two Embraer 195 jets of its original order to two Embraer 175 jets. Royal Jordanian opened a new lounge at King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba.
RJ will be the first Middle East airline to provide its passengers with OnAir’s in-flight Internet and mobile phone services, including e-mail, SMS and voice calls.[4] Royal Jordanian has upgraded its three Airbus A310s at a cost of over 10 million Jordanian dinars (JOD).
Royal Jordanian was privatised at the end of 2007, resulting in 71% of its assets being sold. The market capitalisation of the company stands at 260 million JOD, and share-trading commenced on 17 December 2007.
On 24 December 2007, Royal Jordanian confirmed Baku as one of its new destinations for 2008, using an Embraer 195 twice weekly from Amman. In early 2008, however, RJ officials decided against the new route, citing that high fuel prices and a new market were a risk too large to take at that time. Royal Jordanian plans to operate the Amman-Baku route in late 2009 or early 2010. On 22 January 2008, RJ launched flights to Hong Kong via Bangkok, with three flights/week during winter, and five flights/week during summer, making it the airline's first route to China.[5]
The Airbus A319 entered service on 13 March 2008, making RJ the first Middle East airline to operate three aircraft of the Airbus A320 family.[6] On 17 August 2008, Royal Jordanian opened a new route to Kiev, using Embraer 195 jets for this twice weekly service. On 24 August 2008, Royal Jordanian opened its new lounge at Queen Alia International Airport Amman, replacing the "Petra" and "Jerash" lounges. The new lounge is located on the second floor of the South Terminal and is the second-largest airport lounge in the Middle East, being able to handle over 340 passengers.[7]
The airline recorded an 18% increase in passenger numbers in July 2008. With the airline transporting 278,000 passengers, the seat factor grew by 5% in that month to reach 81%.[8] As part of Royal Jordanian's commitment to its airline alliance Oneworld, an announcement was made at the alliance's 10th birthday celebrations on 3 February 2009 that RJ would paint its new A319 (due for delivery in late March) in a scheme that would be based around the Oneworld name and logo. This is the first special colour scheme Royal Jordanian will have used.[9]
Royal Jordanian resumed service to Brussels on 1 April 2009, six years after the route was discontinued by the airline, flying twice weekly from Amman with the airline planning to add a further two flights per week later in 2009.
On 28 March 2010, Royal Jordanian inaugurated regular direct flights to Madinah Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia, with four weekly flights. On the 23 March, Royal Jordanian confirmed that it had ordered two A330-200s and one Embraer 175. Royal Jordanian recommenced operations to Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur on June 2, 2010 after it had suspended this route in 2004. Aircraft used on this route is the new Airbus A330-200.
In May 2011, Royal Jordanian announced that they will retire the Airbus A310 aircraft in December 2011, and January 2012.
Source: Royal Jordanian[10]
Royal Jordanian Slogans
| Slogan |
Year commenced |
Year finished |
| "From Jordan to the world" |
1963 |
1968 |
| "Excellence in air" |
1968 |
1974 |
| "Journey in Royalty" and "The way you want to fly" |
1974 |
2005 |
| "Change is in the air" |
2006 |
2008 |
| "You're There." |
2008 |
2010 |
| "The Art of Flying" |
Late 2010 |
Present |
The following information can be found in the 2009 Royal Jordanian Annual Report.[11]
Financial and operational statistics
| Year |
Aircraft kilometers |
Departures |
Flying hours |
Passengers |
Seat factor |
Employees |
Profit/loss |
| 2002 |
37,767,709 |
17,096 |
55,970 |
1,339,779 |
66% |
3,008 |
Loss 3,044,000 JOD |
| 2003 |
36,933,462 |
16,202 |
54,972 |
1,404,588 |
68% |
3,162 |
Loss 9,753,000 JOD |
| 2004 |
44,557,377 |
19,148 |
66,004 |
1,736,637 |
71% |
3,313 |
Profit 15,327,000 JOD |
| 2005 |
45,557,377 |
20,777 |
68,883 |
1,821,329 |
69% |
3,557 |
Profit 20,516,000 JOD |
| 2006 |
52,274,917 |
25,661 |
77,374 |
2,004,559 |
66% |
3,799 |
Profit 6,135,000 JOD |
| 2007 |
56,055,803 |
30,244 |
88,378 |
2,288,000 |
71% |
4,275 |
Profit 24,111,000 JOD |
| 2008 |
64,379,058 |
34,285 |
101,381 |
2,701,000 |
72% |
4,507 |
Loss 23,400,000 JOD |
| 2009 |
66,017,391 |
35,715 |
105,579 |
2,668,590 |
68% |
4,399 |
Profit 28,614,000 JOD |
| 2010 |
TBA |
39,000 |
112,969 |
3,000,000[12] |
71% |
TBA |
Profit 9,600,000 JOD |
- Aircraft kilometers 2009: 66,017,391 (
2.48%)
- Number of departures 2009: 35,715 ( 1,430)
- Flying hours 2009: 105,579 ( 3.98%)
- Total number of passengers 2009: 2,668,590 (
1.20%)
- Seat factor 2009: 68%. ( 4%)
- Employees 2009: 4,399 ( 108)
Scheduled services
| Year |
Passengers |
Cargo |
Excess baggage |
Airmail |
| 2005 |
285,913 |
45,944 |
4,413 |
2,364 |
| 2006 |
294,237 |
43,326 |
4,891 |
2,851 |
- Scheduled passenger flights 2006: 294,237 ( 2.83%)
- Scheduled cargo flights 2006: 43,326 ( 5.70%)
- Scheduled excess baggage flights 2006: 4,891 ( 9.77%)
- Scheduled airmail flights 2006: 2,851 ( 17.08%)
Royal Jordanian has codeshare agreements with the following airlines, some of which are also Oneworld partners * :
The Royal Jordanian fleet consists of the following aircraft [13][14]
Royal Jordanian Fleet
| Aircraft |
Total |
Orders |
Options |
Passengers |
Notes |
| C |
Y |
Total |
| Airbus A319-100 |
4 |
— |
— |
14 |
102 |
116 |
Fitted with on-air mobile services
JY-AYP painted in Oneworld livery |
| Airbus A320-200 |
6 |
2 |
— |
16 |
120 |
136 |
To be fitted with on-air mobile services |
| Airbus A321-200 |
4[15] |
2 |
— |
20 |
148 |
168 |
To be fitted with on-air mobile services
Two will be replaced with two new A321s in 2012 |
| Airbus A330-200 |
3 |
— |
— |
24 |
259 |
283 |
Leased through 2020. |
| Airbus A340-200 |
4 |
— |
— |
24 |
241 |
265 |
Replacement aircraft: Boeing 787-8 (2015)
|
| Boeing 787–8 |
— |
7[16] |
— |
TBA |
Entry into service: Early 2013
Order includes 4 leases |
| Embraer 175 |
3 |
— |
— |
12 |
60 |
72 |
- |
| Embraer 195 |
5 |
— |
— |
12 |
92 |
104 |
First Middle-Eastern airline to operate aircraft. |
| Total |
32 |
11 |
|
|
As of March 2012[update], the average age of the Royal Jordanian fleet was 7.9 years.[17]
Royal Jordanian intends to have a fleet of 38 aircraft by the year 2017. With 11 Boeing 787s, 4 Airbus A319s, 8 Airbus A320s, 6 Airbus A321s and 9 Embraer E-Jets.[14]
Airbus A310-300F near Brussels, Belgium
Royal Jordanian Cargo (Royal Jordanian Airlines Cargo) is the company's freight division operating to Africa, Europe, North America and Middle East. The airline also offers worldwide cargo charter services. Royal Jordanian Cargo flies to over 50 destinations including Baghdad, Tel Aviv, London, Vienna, New York, Cairo, Saudi Arabia, Chicago, Delhi, Brussels, Maastricht and Bangkok.
Royal Jordanian has also operated the following aircraft:[19]
The airline has named its new aircraft after Jordanian cities. The older aircraft such as the Airbus A340 and Airbus A310 are named after members of the Hashemite Royal Family.[citation needed]
Royal Jordanians's livery is a dark grey fuselage with the titles in gold both in English and Arabic. Red tips are located on the fins, winglets and engines of the aircraft as well as two strips, one gold and one red, down the fuselage. The fin contains a crown. This livery has been in use since 2006; before then the livery was similar, however the engines were not painted, and the fin did not have a curved stripe atop.
Until 2009 Royal Jordanian had never had an aircraft painted in a special colour scheme. It announced at the 10th birthday celebrations in February 2009 of the airline alliance Oneworld that it would paint its new A319 due for delivery in late March in a special scheme, which would be based around the Oneworld name and logo.
The aircraft, registration JY-AYP, has its fuselage painted white, with the tailfin and engines in normal Royal Jordanian colours. "A member of Oneworld" in prominent lettering is located at the front of the aircraft, with the usual title "Royal Jordanian" further back.[20]
Royal Plus is Royal Jordanian's frequent flyer program. Passengers are awarded points based on the type, class of flight and destination. Royal Plus members can also get points by traveling on other Oneworld airlines.
The four tiers in the Royal Plus Program are:
- Royal Plus Blue
- Royal Plus Silver
- Royal Plus Gold
- Royal Plus Platinum
Card holders of Royal Jordanian's Royal Plus with either Silver, Gold or Platinum can use Oneworld airport services across the world while Gold and Platinum also have lounge access.
Food and drinks served on flights leaving Amman are provided by Alpha Group. Hot meals will be served on a flight of at least one hour length. If the flight is shorter than one hour the cabin crew will provide snacks and drinks throughout the flight. These flights include those to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Aqaba from Amman.
Royal Jordanian, remains the only international airline in the world to offer its Economy Class passengers three meal options to choose from beef, fish or poultry on any flight of over two hours duration.[21]
Royal Jordanian's onboard entertainment system is called "Sky Cinema".
- In Economy Class on board the A319, A320, A321, A330 and A340 aircraft all passengers are supplied with personal televisions (PTV), the system is audio- and video-on-demand system (AVOD). The system provides passengers with a selection of movies, television shows, audio and games. The A310 aircraft does not feature PTVs and AVOD in Economy Class; instead they feature bulkhead-mounted screens, as well as LCD screens located every five rows along the cabin.
- In Crown Class, passengers are provided with AVOD which includes a large library of movies, television shows, audio and games on board the A319, A320, A321, A330 and A340 aircraft. Portable entertainment devices (IMS) are only available for Crown Class passengers flying on A310 and Embraer aircraft. The IMS service is provided on all international flights. The IMS library contains movies, short subjects, an audio library and games.
Interactive games are available in all classes on all flights, as well as news provided by CNN on all flights.
On very short flights, from Amman to Tel Aviv, Amman to Beirut and Amman to Damascus, the AVOD system is turned on but there is only the selection of games, CNN News the "Flight Show" and the comedy channel. This is due to the flights being less than 45 minutes hence movies/shows would not be complete upon arrival.
Newspapers and magazines are available to all Crown Class passengers. Free newspapers are also provided to all Economy class passengers. The in-flight magazine, Royal Wings Magazine, is provided to all passengers.
Crown Class seats on the A340 are fully flat beds. On the A310, the Recaro manufactured seats are 6-foot (1.8 m)-long flat bed seats, with a 175 degree slope.
Seat pitch is 83 inches on the A340, 51 inches on the A310 and 46 inches on the short and medium haul aircraft.
In Economy Class Royal Jordanian offers 32-inch seat pitch on board its Embraer aircraft, whilst it offers 34-inch seat pitch on board its Airbus aircraft. All Royal Jordanian Economy class seats also offer a foot-rest.
On the new Airbus 330-200, Royal Jordanian offers lie-flat seats in Crown Class with a 62-inch seat pitch, as well as a 34-inch seat pitch in the economy class cabin
Crown Class passengers can use lounges across the world including all Oneworld member airline lounges. As of August 2008[update] Royal Jordanian operates two lounges: one in Amman, at Queen Alia International Airport, and one at Aqaba, at King Hussein International Airport. In August 2008 Royal Jordanian opened its new lounge, which can handle over 340 passengers. It is located in the South Terminal on the second floor and replaces the previous Jerash and Petra lounges in the airport. The new lounge is the second largest in the Middle East and provides facilities which include:
- A business center, with Internet-connected computers.
- Jordanian and international newspapers and magazines.
- Isolated room for relaxing.
- Hotel-like bedrooms.
- Showers.
- Play room for children, with TV.
- Games room for adults.
- Praying rooms.
- LCD screens are installed in the main hall of the lounge.
- A smoking area with air-conditioning and ventilation.
- Food and drinks.
- Library.
- Views of the tarmac and runways.
Royal Jordanian's "Royal Vacations Program" sells vacations. Points from staying at Royal Jordanian partner hotels will give points towards the Royal Plus program.
- 2007 Airline Strategy Award by Airline Business magazine[22]
- King Abdullah II Award for Excellence, large service organizations category[22]
- Best Arab airline website
- Phoenix Award, 2007, by Air Transport World magazine[22]
- CAPA Merit Award for the Airline Turnaround of the Year 2006[22]
- International Star Award for Quality
- Best Airline Livery Award 2007
- "Airline of the Year 2007" by Air Finance Journal[23]
- Punctuality Award 2009, Intercontinental category, by Schiphol Aviation Awards[24]
- 2010 Airline Of The Year at "Arabian Business Achievement Awards 2010"
Royal Jordanian has invested heavily in its crew training facility at its headquarters in Amman. As of 2008[update], Royal Jordanian employed 4,507 people.[25]
Royal Jordanian is the second-largest carrier in the Levant and the only major Arab carrier serving Israel. It began to put into place a new strategy at the end of 2002 which saw the airline concentrate on its neighboring nations, with increased frequencies. In a plan to establish itself as the Middle East's "regional airline" it began to add smaller routes such as Alexandria in Egypt to Aleppo in Syria which the bigger airlines, such as Emirates Airline, would not undertake with the larger aircraft compared to Royal Jordanian's regional jets. As of the end of 2008, the plan had proven successful for the airline, with its main rivals being Middle East Airlines and Egypt Air.[25]
Since 2008 Royal Jordanian has faced some competition within the Middle East. The arrival of many new low cost airlines such as Air Arabia, Jazeera Airways and flydubai have caused problems for the Jordanian airline. With the arrival of these new airlines Royal Jordanian has once dramatically improved its onboard and ground services.
The operation of private charter flights using aircraft from the Royal Jordanian fleet is uncommon, but may be arranged if aircraft of Royal Wings, the subsidiary company of Royal Jordanian, cannot meet customer requirements.
As of 2009[update] Haddadinco Engineering Company for Contracting is building the new Royal Jordanian head office in Amman.[26] The building was designed by Niels Torp.[27] The new building was completed in late 2011, and RJ employees began work in the building on January 3, 2012.
In the 1960s Alia's head office was in the Mango Building in Amman.[28]
Since the name of the carrier was changed to Royal Jordanian Airlines, the only fatal incident was when a hijacker, seeking political asylum, was killed on 5 July 2000, on board a Royal Jordanian Airbus A320 flying from Amman to Damascus.[29]
- ^ "RJ Phone numbers in Jordan." Royal Jordanian. Retrieved on 21 June 2010. "Office Address: Building 37 -Mohammad Ali Janah St. -Abdoun near the 5th circle P .O .Box: 302 Amman 11118"
- ^ Royal Jordanian website
- ^ Golden, Lara Lynn (20 May 2007). Press release "Royal Jordanian negotiating for 12 787s through direct purchase and lease contracts". AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited.
- ^ Home | OnAir. Onair.aero. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Manibo, Medilyn (22 January 2008). Press release "RJ starts operating flights between Amman and Hong Kong today". AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ Ammari, Siba Sami (27 August 2008). Press release "RJ reports 18% increase in passenger numbers last month". AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited.
- ^ News. oneworld (2009-02-03). Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ Golden, Lara Lynn (18 December 2008). Press release "Royal Jordanian's 'You're there' marketing campaign launched". AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited.
- ^ "Financial Statements". Royal Jordanian.
- ^ Royal Jordanian: RJ News, February 23, 2011
- ^ Royal Jordanian fleet
- ^ a b Royal Jordanian Airlines: The Will of Royal Jordanian | ATWOnline
- ^ Royal Jordanian to lease seven aircraft; HSBC Holdings upgrades Air Arabia rating | Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation – CAPA. Centreforaviation.com (2010-06-17). Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ "FARNBOROUGH: Royal Jordanian orders three more 787s". Flightglobal.com. 25 July 2010. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/25/344918/farnborough-royal-jordanian-orders-three-more-787s.html. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
- ^ Royal Jordanian Fleet Age
- ^ EDFH-Spotting – Hahn Airport Spotting Community. Intern-edfh-spotting.de. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
- ^ "Timeline". Royal Jordanian. Click on "View our Timeline" for Flash-based information.
- ^ "oneworld airlines renew their commitment to build on the value the alliance offers customers worldwide – including a standard oneworld livery". 3 February 2009.
- ^ [3][dead link]
- ^ a b c d Press release "RJ celebrates its 45th anniversary tomorrow". AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited. 14 December 2008.
- ^ Press release "RJ awarded "Airline of the Year 2007" by Air Finance Journal". AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited. 23 June 2008.
- ^ Angioni, Giovanni (29 March 2010). "Estonian Air wins punctuality award in Schiphol". Estonian Free Press.
- ^ a b Sobie, Brendan (22 January 2008). "Going the distance: Samer Majali steers Royal Jordanian into privatisation".
- ^ "RJ News". Royal Jordanian. 24 November 2009. Retrieved on 13 December 2009.
- ^ "Niels Torp: airline headquarters, Amman, Jordan.(Work)(Royal Jordanian Airlines has new corporate headquarters)". Architectural Review. 1 January 2007. Retrieved on 13 February 2010.
- ^ 498 "World Airline Directory". Flight International. 2 April 1964.
- ^ "Bomb Explodes On Jordanian Jet". CBS News. 5 July 2000.
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