Royal Jordanian Flies Lagos, Nairobi Routes, Soon

Royal Jordian airline has

announced plans to commence flight operations to Lagos (Nigeria) and Nairobi, the capital of Kenya in line with its expansion programme.

The direct flights to Lagos and Nairobi will start from December 3 and 16, 2011 respectively.

The President and CEO of the company, Hussein Dabbas said the company’s effort to inaugurate these two routes was part of its expansion strategy and also an attempt to find new tourism and travel markets, given the decline in tourism movement from traditional markets of Europe and North America.

According to him, “connecting Amman with these African cities is expected to attract large numbers of tourists to the Kingdom, particularly Muslim pilgrims who wish to continue their flights to Mecca and Medina, in Saudi Arabia, and Christians, who come to Jordan to visit the Baptism site and other Christian holy sites.

He added that the airline was conducting studies to see whether it could be feasible to inaugurate routes to Accra, capital of Ghana and Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.

Royal Jordanian airline will operate two weekly flights with its wide-bodied, 280 – seat Airbus A330s to Lagos. The flight will depart from Amman on Wednesdays at 12.40 after midnight and arrive in Lagos at 06.30 am. It leaves Lagos the same day at 8.00 am and arrives in Amman at 15.15pm.

A second weekly flight to Lagos will be on Saturdays. It will leave Amman at 14.45pm to arrive in Lagos at 20.35pm. it departs from Lagos the same day at 22.00pm and arrives in Amman the next morning at 05.15.

The narrower – bodied A319 will operate four weekly flights between Amman and Nairobi. The flights will operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, leaving Amman at 20.30pm to arrive in Nairobi at 02.55 the next day.

The flights back from Nairobi are on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 03.50 am to arrive in Amman at 08.00 am the same day.

Royal Jordanian, the national carrier of the Hashemite Kingdom of  Jordan was established in 1963 under the name “Alia”, to become one of the first airlines in the region. It was privatised in December 2007.

The Jordanian government retained a 29 per cent holding with the next biggest shareholder, a company in the M1 group with 19 per cent.

Royal Jordanian started its operations with three aircraft operating to three regional destinations. Its Amman base provides the alliance with one of the best hubs for traveling around the middle East – where the airline’s network is focused.

Royal Jordanian has a network of 58 destinations in 37 countries on four continents. It flies to about 30 points in the Arab world, giving the most extensive network of any airline in the region. It flies to points in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America.