RJ Vice Chairman/CEO Samer Majali: The A320neo aircraft family is the best choice for fleet replacement and growth for Royal Jordanian in the coming few years for its core short and medium range operations.
AMMAN – Royal Jordanian reached agreement with Airbus to introduce 20 new factory built Airbus A320neo family aircraft to its fleet, replacing its current 13 A320neo aircraft family fleet in service. This is in line with the airline’s strategic plan to modernize its narrow-body fleet of aircraft that would serve its core destinations in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. He added that this is part of the airline plan is to increase the total fleet size from today’s 24 to over 40 aircraft in the coming 3-5 years.
RJ Vice Chairman/CEO Samer Majali said that the company’s 5-year growth strategy (2023-2028), further boosts its positioning as the preferred air carrier in the Levant, promoting Amman as the leading gateway in the region and Jordan as a remarkable tourism destination.
The plan is flexible in allowing the continuous restructuring of the airline's route network, enhancing its connectivity and improving the quality of the service offerings at all touch points, in a concerted effort to make passengers' experience even more comfortable and convenient.
Majali said that the airline conducted thorough and comprehensive feasibility studies to decide on the best choice of aircraft that will replace the currently operating A320ceo family fleet. The A320neo family features the very latest fuel and environmentally efficient engines, large sharklets and the innovative Airspace Cabin for enhance passenger comfort. All since all A320 family aircraft share the same fly-by-wire digital flight controls, cabin management systems, maintenance systems and parts, this commonality helps reduce the cost of pilot and technicians training and scheduling, lowering the introductory investment expenditure as well as the operational and maintenance costs in service, particularly since RJ has been operating the A320 family for the past 35 years. Additionally, an advantage that influenced the selection process is the broad technical and logistical support in the region and at all airports where the airline operates this type of aircraft. The aircraft will be equipped with the latest ergonomically designed seats, wireless communication, and internet as well as in-seat Inflight entertainment through-out the cabin and some of the aircraft on longer range routes will have lie flat business
class seats.
Majali indicated that negotiations with Boeing are currently taking place, to increase the number of the current B787s in the fleet from 7 to 11 aircraft in the coming several years. The airline is currently evaluating new B787-9 and -10 aircraft as the potential growth aircraft in addition to the replacement of the current fleet in due course.
At the same time, RJ plans to introduce starting in the second half of next year, new regional aircraft to give the airline the flexibility and advantage to grow its flight frequencies to all primary and secondary destinations in the region to daily flights and higher, in addition to exploring new routes with the least investment and lowest risk. The airline stated that the selected type will be announced soon.
RJ will continue to expand its network and evaluate new markets to enhance traffic and connect Jordan to the world, and to bring more tourists to Jordan by providing attractive fares and excellent services.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
