Scattered Clouds
clouds

18 April 2024

Amman

Thursday

71.6 F

22°

Home / Business

Royal Jordanian seeks $282m fund from government in 2022 as it nears fleet decision

25-12-2021 12:58 PM

Royal Jordanian

Ammon News - Royal Jordanian Airlines is seeking about $282 million in state funding to help offset revenue lost during the Covid-19 pandemic and help finance an order of new jets.

The Middle Eastern carrier is looking for an initial injection of 100 million dinars ($141 million) to see it through the first half of next year, followed by another of the same amount later on, Chief Executive Officer Samer Majali said in an interview.

Royal Jordanian understands that the government has limited resources but needs assistance to remain competitive, Majali said Thursday.

“It’s to cover the losses incurred since the second quarter of 2020 and help us bring back our network and expand and renew our fleet,” he said. “It’s less than we lost but it will be enough.”

The airline is one of many around the world to have struggled financially while lengthy coronavirus lockdowns forced the grounding of passenger planes. A number, including Middle East giant Emirates and Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG, benefited from government support to see out the crisis. Multiple borders have now reopened, but the emergence of the omicron variant has ensured industry uncertainty remains.

New Fleet
Royal Jordanian is nearing a decision on renewing its short-haul and regional jet fleets with an announcement likely in January, the CEO said. The requirement will be met with new aircraft sourced via a leasing firm, though some planes could also be purchased directly from manufacturers.

Royal Jordanian has been evaluating Airbus SE A320neo-series narrow-bodies and the Boeing Co. 737-Max family, together with the European manufacturer’s smaller A220 model and the rival E2 regional jets from Brazil’s Embraer SA.

The carrier, which currently operates older A320s and Embraer planes on shorter routes, also has a requirement for more Boeing 787 wide-bodies for longer flights, though that will be addressed later, Majai said.

Royal Jordanian’s first major fleet overhaul in a decade is likely to involve 30 new planes, according to a request for proposals issued in October, 17 to replace older models and 13 for growth. The step is part of a five-year plan to increase the number of destinations served from 35 to 60, starting with regional locations and extending to medium and long-haul routes.

*bloomberg




No comments

Notice
All comments are reviewed and posted only if approved.
Ammon News reserves the right to delete any comment at any time, and for any reason, and will not publish any comment containing offense or deviating from the subject at hand, or to include the names of any personalities or to stir up sectarian, sectarian or racial strife, hoping to adhere to a high level of the comments as they express The extent of the progress and culture of Ammon News' visitors, noting that the comments are expressed only by the owners.
name : *
email
show email
comment : *
Verification code : Refresh
write code :