(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)
Amman, Dec. 12 (Petra) -- Royal Jordanian celebrated today its 55th anniversary and launch of its operations as the national carrier of Jordan.
Today, the Jordanian Army Band performed various national musical pieces and shows at the head office in Amman; they shared with RJ employees their celebration in this occasion.
The RJ staff also expressed pride in serving the national carrier of Jordan and promised to exert all the efforts needed to successfully reach RJ's goals, and thus raise the airline's name high and maintain its distinguished international and regional reputation as an important contributor to the kingdom's economy, to the local community, and as an employer of choice, by virtue of being the pillar of air transportation in Jordan that aims at becoming the number one choice for travelers in the Levant.
On the occasion, President/CEO Stefan Pichler expressed the airline's appreciation for the care the Kingdom and the Jordanian government give RJ, and for their keenness to maintain RJ as Jordan's carrier that can contribute to the national economy, saying that profits reached JD10.2 million in the first 9 months of 2018.
He noted that RJ will keep improving its services, facilitate travel procedures and develop employees' skills by training them according to the best customer-service standards, in addition to relying on technology in all fields, in line with international airlines.
Pichler said that the strategic objective of Royal Jordanian is to position itself as the No. 1 carrier in the Levant. This will be done by strengthening the three main pillars of the 5-year turnaround plan: sustainable profitability that attracts the capital market and targets increasing operating margins in the coming five years; being a consumer champion by thinking of customers first; being the employer of choice, which attracts and retains talented and skilled workforce and rewards performance.
Pichler added that RJ will keep offering super-low fares to retain loyal customers and gain new ones; passengers will also see improved services and a seamless travel experience.
In 1963, the company had 250 employees, operated two aircraft -- a Handley Page Dart Herald and a DC7 -- and was flying to three destinations: Beirut, Kuwait and Cairo.
Now its fleet counts 26 modern aircraft that fly to 45 cities spread over four continents. Eight destinations are still suspended for security reasons: Damascus, Aleppo, Sanaa, Aden, Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata and Mosul.
The next five years will see the launch of new stations, the renewal of short- and medium-range fleet and the addition of 3 to 4 new aircraft, which will bring the total number of 30 modern airliners.
The number of passengers increased from 87,000 in 1964 to 3.250 million by the end of this year; the number of yearly flights grew from 4,000 to almost 35,000 over the period. Revenues also went up from JD1 million in 1964 to JD660 million expected at the end of this year.
Pichler said that RJ greatly appreciates its current and retired employees, and praised the role they played over the past years in building and developing the company.
AK AG
12/12/2018 18:13:26
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