Royal Jordanian

Royal Jordanian Airlines formerly, Alia Airlines, is the flag airline of Jordan based in the country's capital, Amman. It operates scheduled international flights over four continents. Its main base is the Queen Alia International Airport (AMM) in Amman. Royal Jordanian is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization and joined the Oneworld alliance in 2007.

History

The airline was created on December 9, 1963 by decree of King Hussein and began operations on December 15, 1963. The airline was initially named Alia in honor of the king's third wife. It was founded with private capital and was later acquired by the Jordanian government to provide substantial funds for its expansion. Alia Jordanian Airlines started with a few planes and three international routes, to Kuwait City, Beirut and Cairo. The airline initially had two Handley Page Dart Heralds and a Douglas DC-7. In 1964 another DC-7 was incorporated, opening a route to Jeddah. In 1965, Alia began its flights to Europe, with the route to Rome. The airline's growth was threatened by the 1967 war against Israel when Israel destroyed the two DC-7s. Those aircraft were replaced by Fokker F27 aircraft. In 1968, routes to Nicosia, Benghazi, Dhahran and Doha were added. In 1969, new routes to Europe and Asia were included, including Munich, Tehran and Istanbul.

In the 1970s Alia added jet aircraft to its fleet that included Boeing 707, Boeing 720, Boeing 727, and Boeing 747. Routes to Europe, Asia and Africa increased. In 1975 Alia made history by incorporating the first Arab woman among the flight cabin staff. In 1979, Alia was a founding member of the Arab Airlines Technical Consortium (AATC).

During the 1980s, automation of the ticket sales process was introduced and the routes served were significantly expanded. The airline's name was changed to Royal Jordanian. In this decade, the airline had its first female pilot.

In the 1990s, reservation and maintenance systems were introduced. Royal Jordanian was the first airline to establish a route to the newly built Gaza airport. The airline established an alliance with TWA and created a subsidiary, Royal Wings, for internal flights in Jordan. Since October 1998, the airline began its privatization process.

Subsidiary airline Royal Wings began the first domestic flights to Aqaba using a Fokker F-27 aircraft on 10 February 1996. Royal Wings currently operates Bombardier Dash 8 Q300 aircraft on scheduled and charter flights to Egypt, Cyprus, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Royal Jordanian signed an agreement in October 2005 to acquire two Q400s belonging to SAS Commuter; These are larger and faster variants of the Dash 8 series aircraft.

On October 17, 2005, the airline accepted the invitation to join the Oneworld alliance, becoming the first Middle Eastern airline to join that association.

Destinations

Fleet

Current Fleet

Royal Jordanian's fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of June 2023).

Royal Jordanian Fleet

Aeronave	In service	Orders	Passengers (Business/Clase tourist)	Routes
Airbus A310-304F	1	0	Charge	medium-long radio
Airbus A319-100	5	0	110 (14/96)	short-average radio
Airbus A320-232	8	1	136 (16/120)	short-average radio
Airbus A321-231	2	0	167 (20/147)	short-average radio
Boeing 787-8	7	4	267(23/244)	long radius
Embraer 175LR	2	1	72 (12/70)	short radio
Embraer 195LR	2	1	100 (12/88)	short-average radio
TOTAL	27	9

As of June 2023, the airline's fleet has an average age of 13 years.

Historical Fleet

Royal Jordanian Historical Fleet

Airplane	Total	Introduced	Withdrawal	Notes
Airbus A310-200	2	1999	2000
Airbus A330-200	3	2010	2017
Airbus A340-200	4	2002	2014
Boeing 747-200	2	1986	1989
Dash 8-400	2	2005	2008
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar	2	1986	1991