Royal Jordanian to stop India, Nigeria flights

Monday, 28 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Royal Jordanian has announced plans to stop its services to Delhi, Mumbai and Lagos, in light of the airline’s restructuring plan, including its route network. RJ will stop operating to Mumbai on 10 September, to Lagos on 10 October, and to Delhi on 31 October, this year. With the closure of the three destinations, the RJ routes will count 51. RJ Chairman of the Board/President & CEO Nasser Lozi said the decision is part of a synchronised plan to turn around the airline covering operations and financial structure. The move comes at a time whilst RJ is facing difficulties due to the instability in the region and high fuel prices.

Lozi attributed halting these flights to the reduced demand on travel from/to these cities due to the aggressive growth of regional competition and increased operating costs. He added that shutting down the three destinations raises the number of destinations that RJ has stopped this year to eight. He pointed out that RJ suspended its flights to Alexandria, Colombo, Milan and Accra last April and May. Additionally, the RJ owned Royal Wings Company has been running the scheduled RJ flights between Amman and Sharm Sheikh as of last April. He also said that RJ continually studies the opportunities for new routes. There are a number of regional markets that RJ is watching closely. Regarding its fleet, Lozi said that the airline is awaiting the arrival of the Boeing 787s which will start joining the fleet in August this year. By year end, the airline will be receiving five B787s. Lozi also said that the airline had to suspend operations to seven stations in the Middle East and North Africa due to security reasons in the region. They are: Damascus, Aleppo, Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata, Mosul and Tel Aviv. He stressed that Royal Jordanian suffered big losses in 2012 and 2013, as a result of suspending service to Damascus and Aleppo and also changing the route of its operations between Amman and Beirut. The airline also witnessed losses in the past period of 2014 because of the uncontrolled suspension of these destinations.