Royal Jordanian hit by Gaza war impact and Airbus delivery delays, airline chief says

Royal Jordanian is grappling with the double whammy of the Israel-Gaza war that has dampened bookings in Q1 2024 and jet delivery delays by Airbus that have hampered its fleet renewal plans, its CE said. The Amman-based airline has been hit by operational difficulties and financial losses with the Israel-Gaza war continuing for nearly six months. In the first quarter of 2024, which is typically a slow period of the year, Royal Jordanian recorded “very weak” travel bookings as, along with the reduction in travel during Ramadan, the war has deterred European tourists, the airline's vice chairman and CE Samer Majali said. “We expected that the situation would be finished but it has continued with more ferocity,” he said. Tourism in countries close to Israel and Palestine is taking a hit because of the incorrect perception that they are all one conflict zone, Al Majali said. “They lump the region as a homogenous unit, which is unfair and bad. It's like saying if there's a tragic killing in a supermarket in the US, then don’t visit America. This is what happens to us,” he said. To mitigate the loss of European inbound traffic to Amman, Royal Jordanian is seeking to carry more transit travellers and more Umrah pilgrims, a strategy that has had “some success but not 100%”. “We are tracking according to budget in the first quarter of this year, which is better than last year, but lower than what we should be doing,” Majali said, citing the impact of the war that began on October 7. Load factors stand at 70% to 75% in the first quarter, which is under the airline's target of 75 to 80%, he said.<br/>