Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Royal Jordanian (RJ) on Tuesday announced that it achieved a third quarter (Q3) net profit of JOD31.8 million from JOD12.9 million only in the same period last year, signaling a major rise of 146 per cent.

CEO Stefan Pichler told a press conference today that the total value of the national carrier's revenues in the January-September of this year amounted to JOD487 million compared with JOD474 million for the corresponding period of 2016, up by 27 per cent.

He explained that the company's profits took an upward turn as of June this year and managed to cover JOD27.8 million in losses reported in the first five months earlier. The results indicate that RJ's net profits for the nine-month period reached JOD5.4 million compared with a loss of JOD2.7 million in the same period last year.

Additionally, the number of passengers who flew with RJ in the nine-month period picked up by 5 per cent to 955,000 passengers. Pichler delivered an outline of the company's 5-year overhaul plan which is aimed at making the company sustainably-profitable, customer champion and employer of choice among other objectives.

Pichler said the plan pursues a 7-percent increase in revenues and a 6-percent reduction in costs.

He further noted that RJ seeks to be the No. 1 airline in the Levant through competitive prices, upgraded services and the opening of additional routes in the next five years to Washington, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Kyrenia in Cyprus.

RJ will also work to resume flying to Damascus, Mosul, Sana'a, Aden and Benghazi, Pichler said.