TBM Staff - Mumbai With a renewed focus on tourism, the airline will use its Explore Jordan arm to disseminate destination information
Royal Jordanian, the flagship carrier of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is making a comeback to the Indian skies starting this April with Mumbai service.
Making this announcement yesterday at the BKC Trident in Mumbai, Karim Makhlouf, Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Jordanian, said, “We are here to push tourism as a prime target. Tourism into Jordan is our primary focus. Jordan is a safe destination, and we are keen to welcome tourists for cultural exploration, adventure, history, sustainable ecotourism, and culinary exploration besides visiting the Biblical sites.”
He went on to say, “We want to position Royal Jordanian as the national carrier of the Levant.
We are keen to reach 7 million passengers from the current 4 million figure in the next three years. With a firm fleet expansion in plan with impending aircraft deliveries, we will double our fleet size to 43 aircraft from the current 2023. By March, we will get 19 new A320neos.”
Terming Royal Jordanian as a full-service boutique airline, Makhlouf, with his long-standing experience in airline turnaround, said that India will be the driver for passenger growth from Asia.
The airline made its first foray in India in 1988 with Delhi operations, followed by Mumbai in 1994. After nearly two decades of service in India, the airline terminated operations in 2004.
However, this time around, the airline has a revamped strategy in India with tourism first focus. Starting with four-weekly Mumbai flights on March 16, the airline will connect Delhi to Amman from September 16, with firm plans to fly daily to India from 2026.
As part of their schedule for India this time around, the airline will deploy it’s A320neo aircraft with two-class configurations of 12 seats in Business Class and 142 in Economy Class. The newly-refurbished fleet to be deployed will offer in-flight entertainment and WiFi on board.
As of 2023, Jordan saw 81,000 tourists, and Makhlouf is keen to elevate inbound arrivals in the next 12 months with these new connections.
