About The Airline

Royal Jordanian Airlines was originally established under the name Alia, Jordanian Airlines and commenced operations as a public institution on December 9, 1963. The company was incorporated as a public shareholding company on February 5, 2001, with 100% of the shares held by the government.

The company started its commercial operations with three aircraft servicing international routes to Kuwait, Beirut, and Cairo. In 1965, the company started its first services outside the Middle East with the addition of Rome to the route network and continued its expansion in 1968 by adding routes to Nicosia, Benghazi, Dhahran, and Doha.

During the 1970s, the airline opened routes to several other cities, including Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat, Rabat, Geneva, Amsterdam, Baghdad, Bangkok, Vienna, Damascus, and New York. In 1979, Alia became a founding member of the Arab Airlines Technical Consortium.

In the 1980s, Alia expanded its fleet with the addition of Airbus A310s and Airbus A320s and continued to add high-profile destinations to its route network, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Singapore, Riyadh, and Moscow. In 1986, the company rebranded as Royal Jordanian Airlines.

In the 1990s, the company continued its expansion of long-haul routes by adding destinations such as Toronto, Colombo, and Mumbai. In 1996, the company established Royal Wings as a subsidiary to operate within Jordan and the Levant. In 1998, the company decided to no longer distinguish between Business and First-Class services, and introduced its single, premium “Crown Class” offering instead.

In 2000 and 2001, the company underwent a rigorous and focused restructuring process, including the disposal of non-core activities, as it began its transformation from a public- sector entity to a private commercial operation. The restructuring cleared the way for a meaningful change in the company’s direction and the way it conducted its affairs. The company recognized that it could not compete effectively as a global sixth freedom carrier, and that its real strengths lay in its regional network. Accordingly, the company began to reposition itself to serve third and fourth freedom routes into and out of Amman, increasing certain sixth freedom routes regionally consequently. The company began to implement this strategy with the aim of becoming the carrier of choice connecting Jordan and the Levant with the rest of the world. Although the government remained the sole shareholder until the end of 2007, it allowed the Board of Directors and Management to focus on implementing this strategy and to operate the company free from political concerns, which enabled it to grow and improve its profitability.

In view of the improved profitability of the company in the previous five years, the government in mid-2007 decide to continue its privatization policy and appointed CitiGroup to manage this initiative. The company went through the IPO process successfully in December of 2007, and the government shareholding dropping to 29%, with the SSC holding 10% and regional institutions and individuals holding the remainder 61%.

Ever since its establishment, RJ has been an essential contributor to the national economy, bringing in hard currency and playing a key role in attracting tourists from all over the world. It contributes 3% of the country's GDP. RJ continues its forward stride under the invaluable guidance and directives from His Majesty King Abdullah, who generously lends support to the airline.

In 2022, following the COVID-19 pandemic, RJ took the opportunity to restructure its network and introduced a new strategic focus on promoting Jordan globally. This involved collaborating with tour operators to boost tourism to Jordan. To support this initiative, RJ added two all-economy Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet.

RJ began operations to several European cities, including Lyon and Milan in 2022. This expansion continued into 2023, with new routes to Stockholm, Düsseldorf, and Brussels, alongside increased flights to existing destinations. In 2024, RJ further expanded its network by launching flights to Manchester and increasing capacity to London with operations to Stansted Airport.