RJ suspends operations to 3 destinations

AMMAN — Royal Jordanian (RJ) announced in a press statement on Wednesday that it will suspend operations to Alexandria starting April and to Colombo and Milan the month after. 

“RJ constantly reviews its route network and studies the stations in order to assess the economic feasibility of each destination,” the airline said in the statement.

“At the forefront of the set criteria that determine route profitability are the traffic, the operating expenses and the required fleet operated on these routes,” it  added.

In addition, the market share plays a big role in such decision, in light of the fierce competition witnessed by the air transport industry on a regional and international level. This year, RJ increased the number of flights to several of its 60 non-stop destinations and reduced the frequency to others, based on last year’s operating results and the opportunities and challenges expected to affect air transportation in 2014.

Separately, RJ told the Jordan Securities Commission in a disclosure about its financial results that net operating income fell last year to JD38.1 million from JD79.2 million at the end of 2012.

“Net income turned into a JD39.9 million loss on December 31, 2013,” the company’s disclosure showed.

At the end of 2012, the airline posted a JD1.3 million profit.

RJ attributed the plunge to political conditions in the region, especially the crisis in Syria, and the high fuel costs.

It revealed that the number of passengers dropped by 123,626 travellers last year bringing down the seat factor to 70 per cent in 2013 from 73 per cent in the previous year.