RJ cancels early flight to Istanbul after attack

AMMAN — Royal Jordanian (RJ) on Wednesday cancelled its 11:20am flight to Turkey following deadly suicide attacks at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Passengers with reservations for flight no.165 were transferred to flight no. 167, which departed at 5:30pm, RJ Media Director Basel Kilani told Petra. 

Kilani said RJ immediately contacted passengers to notify them that their flight had been cancelled, noting that the last flight to Ataturk Airport had departed Amman two hours before the terrorist attack. 

No RJ employee was injured in the bombing, he added. 

The airline operates two daily flights between Amman and Istanbul, and four weekly flights to Ankara, Kilani explained. 

Suicide bombers who were also carrying guns killed at least 41 people and wounded many others at Turkey’s biggest airport in an attack the Turkish government blamed on Daesh extremists, according to The Associated Press. 

The death toll excluded the three bombers, who arrived in a taxi and eventually blew themselves up after coming under fire, according to the Turkish government, though there were conflicting reports about exactly where they detonated their explosives, AP reported.