Royal Jordanian CEO says war in Gaza could hurt profitability

The CE of Royal Jordanian said on Monday the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza was leading to some cancellations in bookings and making it operate longer, costlier flights, which could hurt the airline's profitability in Q4. The airline made a nine-month profit of 10.7m Jordanian dinars ($15.1m) and prior to the war expected the last quarter to increase profitability. CE Samer Majali said the airline was no longer sure, warning that costs had increased substantially as it had to fly longer flights to avoid neighbouring airspace. "We've seen some reduction in traffic and obviously we have additional costs because we have to fly longer routes to avoid the conflict areas," he told journalists at the Dubai Airshow. Travellers have cancelled bookings to the region amid fears the war, now in its fifth week, could spillover into a regional conflict. Majali, however, urged people to visit Jordan, which he described as an "oasis of stability". The airline signed an agreement at the Dubai Airshow with Boeing to purchase six 787-9 Dreamliner jets, of which Majali said two were of the same aircraft that had earlier been cancelled and now reordered. EgyptAir Chairman Yehia Zakaria similarly said that the airline was seeing some bookings cancelled, which like Royal Jordanian, were typically those made by foreign tourists. "It's not more than 10%," Zakaria said of the cancellations, describing it as a "very low" and "not considerable". He said that the cancellations were not at a critical level and that tourists were still visiting Egypt, though certain destinations were being avoided due to the war in Gaza. Jordan and Egypt both neighbour Israel, while Egypt also shares a border with Gaza.<br/>