Jordan Civil Aviation and Airports
Queen Alia International Airport at Al Jizah, South of
Amman, showing Royal Jordanian Airlines airplanes
Royal Jordanian Airlines--known until 1987 as Alia--was the
national carrier. Wholly owned by the government and operating
since 1946, Royal Jordanian by 1988 had become one of the major
Middle Eastern air carriers. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s,
passenger and freight traffic and reported profits grew almost 25
percent annually (although fuel and other hidden subsidies made
calculation of actual profitability impossible). Annual traffic
growth tapered off to single-digit figures after 1983 and the
airline experienced a US$30 million loss in 1984. A budget cut of
almost 10 percent in 1986 resulted in staff and other overhead cuts
that apparently made the carrier more efficient, and in that year
it reported a profit of US$5.6 million. In 1986 Royal Jordanian
carried more than 1 million passengers and 42,500 tons of cargo.
Load factors averaged over 48 percent. Jordan also had established
some of the most advanced flight crew training and maintenance and
repair facilities in the Middle East, and it sold these services to
African and other Arab airlines.
In the late 1980s, Royal Jordanian was in the midst of a major
program of long-term expansion and financial restructuring. The
program included the low-cost lease and purchase of new Airbus
Industrie airliners. Royal Jordanian also was negotiating an
agreement to sell and lease back some of its Boeing and Lockheed
aircraft to cut corporate debt. After restructuring the balance
sheet, the government planned to offer Royal Jordanian for sale to
its 4,600 employees and to private sector investors, retaining only
a 15 percent stake.
In 1988 the Royal Jordanian fleet consisted of two Boeing 747-
200s, eight Lockheed L-1011 Tristars, three Boeing 727-200As, and
three Boeing 707-320Cs. In 1987 Royal Jordanian acquired the first
two of six Airbus Industrie A-310-300s, which were to replace its
Boeing 707s. Royal Jordanian also had an option to purchase six
Airbus Industrie A-320s to replace its Boeing 727s over the decade
from 1990 to 2000, and planned eventually to phase out use of its
Lockheeds in favor of new Airbus Industrie A-340s.
In 1987 Royal Jordanian added Moscow and Calcutta to the more
than forty worldwide destinations it already served. New scheduled
flights were planned to East Asia, including Seoul, Tokyo, Manila,
and Sydney, as well as to Rio de Janeiro via Abidjan.
Jordan had two other minor airlines: Arab Air Cargo and Arab
Wings. Arab Air Cargo was owned in equal shares by Royal Jordanian
and Iraqi Airways. Arab Wings, a passenger charter service, was
owned by Royal Jordanian (88 percent) and the Sultanate of Oman (12
percent). The latter company also included a flying ambulance
service. There were nineteen usable airfields in Jordan in 1988, of
which fourteen had permanent surface runways. Of these, two near
Amman were major airfields: the Queen Alia International Airport,
opened in 1983 and located at Al Jizah, thirty kilometers south of
Amman, and the old international airport at Marka, King Abdullah
Airport, used primarily by the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Data as of December 1989
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