Royal Jordanian is planning to launch service in April to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
Chief executive Samer Majali says Royal Jordanian will initially operate a twice weekly on the Amman-Baku route service using 100-seat Embraer E-195s.
“The E-195 is a good low-cost aircraft that allows us to test the market,” he says.
Baku will be Royal Jordanian’s first destination in Central Asia and only its second destination in the CIS after Moscow. Currently no carrier operates between Baku and Amman. “The access there is very limited,” Majali says.
Baku will be Royal Jordanian’s 56th destination. The carrier on 22 January launched service to its 55th destination, Hong Kong.
Majali, however, says Royal Jordanian is focusing this year on adding frequencies to existing destinations rather than launching new routes.
“Our primary network expansion is adding frequency, consolidating our position and offering a far better service to the current destinations we serve,” he says. “Our strategy is to concentrate on convenience and a high quality service with the right-sized airplane. Where we operate two to three times per week we want to go daily. Where were go daily we want to increase to double daily. We were go double daily we want to beyond that.”
For example, Majali says Royal Jordanian plans to upgrade its service to New Delhi to daily after it takes delivery in April of its first of two A319s. Royal Jordanian now serves New Delhi thrice weekly with Airbus A310s. Majali says Royal Jordanian’s new fleet of two A319s will also be used on long thin routes to Europe.
Hong Kong will be served be served thrice weekly via Bangkok with Royal Jordanian’s fleet of three newly refurbished A310s. Majali says the one-stop routing and choice of aircraft is not ideal but there were no other options given Royal Jordanian’s limited widebody fleet. He says Royal Jordanian’s four A340s will be fully utilised in the upcoming summer season to operate 16 weekly flights to four North American destinations.
“At moment we are just testing it but in future it will have to be Hong Kong direct in order to provide one-stop access to China,” Majali says. “We want to see how market develops.”
He adds Royal Jordanian settled for an A310 service via Bangkok to provide “some sort of access to the 2008 Olympics via Hong Kong”. At Hong Kong, Royal Jordanian passengers will be able to connect onto flights to mainland China operated by oneworld partners Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair.
Source: Airline Business
