Royal Jordanian to join oneworld airline alliance

Royal Jordanian is to join oneworld^TM , the leading quality global airline alliance.

It is the first carrier from the Levant, Middle East and Gulf region to be elected on board any of the global airline groupings - and the first airline accepted to join oneworld for more than five years.

It accepted its invitation to join at a ceremony today conducted in the presence of His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein at the Royal Palace in Amman, the airline's home base.

Representing oneworld and its existing members were:

• Fernando Conte, Chairman and Chief Executive of Iberia and current Chairman of the oneworld Governing Board.
• Martin Broughton, Chairman of British Airways, which is acting as the sponsor for Royal Jordanian's entry into the alliance.
• John McCulloch, oneworld's Managing Partner.

Representing Royal Jordanian were its Chairman Dr Ummaya Toukan and President and Chief Executive Samer Majali.

Royal Jordanian has already satisfied oneworld's key pre-joining audits, assuring the grouping that it can deliver the alliance's services, benefits and processes and also match its demanding quality and safety standards.

Work will now begin on connecting its IT systems to those of its new partners, bringing key internal processes into line with oneworld requirements, training its employees to deliver oneworld products, customer benefits and support, and completing the other tasks needed before it can become a fully-fledged member of the alliance.

It should start offering oneworld services and benefits, as a fully-fledged member of the alliance, at around the turn of 2006/2007.

 

Fernando Conte, Chairman and Chief Executive of Iberia and Chairman of the oneworld Governing Board, said: "oneworld's focus during the past few years has been on helping our member airlines weather the financial turbulence that has rocked this industry, by building revenues and cutting costs. The results of this strategy are reflected in oneworld being the only alliance whose members are collectively profitable. Now our member airlines are at the stage where they feel it is sensible for the alliance to recruit in regions where we would like to broaden our network. We are delighted that Royal Jordanian will fill that role for oneworld in the growing Middle Eastern market."

Martin Broughton, Chairman of sponsor British Airways, said: "Royal Jordanian is an excellent fit for oneworld. It meets the high quality customer standards that oneworld demands of all its members, with a network that complements what we currently offer. It is profitable, with a management in tune with our approach to business. We at British Airways look forward to working with our new colleagues to bring Royal Jordanian on board the world's leading quality alliance."

Royal Jordanian's Chief Executive Samer Majali said: "Accepting oneworld's invitation to join is an exciting step for Royal Jordanian. The Middle East is the fastest growing aviation market, and we are the first airline from this region to find a home in a global alliance. There is no doubt that our future strategy and recent performance make us an attractive partner for other high quality airlines. This development is in tune with our ambition to privatise and to strengthen Amman's role as a regional hub. We are delighted to strengthen oneworld's excellent worldwide network with better coverage of our region.

"Our passengers are increasingly asking more from us and oneworld will extend our reach enormously. Royal Jordanian's passengers will enjoy privileged access to a group of airlines that we trust and are certain to take excellent care of them."

oneworld affiliate BMED, which operates as a franchisee of British Airways, is the only oneworld member currently serving Royal Jordanian's home market, with daily flights between Amman and the alliance's main European hub London Heathrow. Its Chief Executive David Richardson was also in Amman for today's activities.

At present, Iberia is the only oneworld partner with a bilateral agreement with Royal Jordanian, code-sharing on the latter's flights between their Amman and Madrid home bases. Bilateral agreements between Royal Jordanian and the alliance's other existing members are expected to be developed in hand with its recruitment to the grouping.

Royal Jordanian has an extensive network throughout the Levant, Middle East and Gulf region. Further afield, it currently operates to established oneworld hubs London Heathrow, Madrid, Barcelona, New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare and Bangkok.

It will add two countries to the oneworld map (Iraq and Yemen) and 10 destinations - Al Arish (Egypt), Al Ain (UAE), Aden and Sanaa (Yemen), Dammam and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Aqaba (Jordan), and Baghdad, Basra and Irbil (Iraq). This will extend the alliance's network to 135 territories and 609 destinations.

About oneworld

oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus and their 12 affiliates. Hungary's Malév signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2005 as its first step towards an invitation to join the alliance.

oneworld enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the whole alliance network and access to more airport lounges.

Together, its members:

• Operate more than 8,000 departures a day - an average of a departure or arrival somewhere around the world every five seconds around the clock - on a fleet of some 2,000 aircraft.
• Carried more than 230 million passengers in 2004 - equivalent to around one in 30 of the world population.
• Earned almost US$60 billion in revenues in total, with oneworld activities generating one in every US$30 dollar earned by its member airlines from passenger services.
• Provide top frequent flyers and premium passengers with some 400 airport lounges worldwide.

oneworld is the only alliance whose members achieved a collective profit in 2004 – some US$1.5 billion net.

It offers more alliance fare and sales products than any of its competitors, earning almost US$600 million for its member airlines in 2004, with the seven million passengers transferring between oneworld members generating revenues totalling US$1.6 billion in the year.

oneworld has won more top international awards for airline alliances than both its competitors combined - voted the world's best airline alliance for the second year running by readers of Business Traveller magazine in its 2005 poll and named the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the second year running in the 2004 World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by travel professionals from 80,000 agencies in more than 200 countries.

 

It is the only global alliance to enable passengers to fly across its entire network with just electronic tickets, with interline e-ticketing links completed between all its member airlines in April 2005, and the first to enable customers to book flights on its alliance website, currently available only to businessflyer customers in Germany.

About Royal Jordanian

 

Royal Jordanian serves 51 destinations in 33 countries, including 27 points in the Levant, Middle East, Gulf and North Africa, along with points in Asia, Europe and North America.

 

Its 3,200 staff operate a fleet of 21 aircraft – including Airbus A340s, A310s, A321s and A320s and Bombardier Dash 8 Q300s and Q400s. Last year, the airline boarded 1.7 million passengers.

 

With the IATA two-letter code of RJ, it operates more than 50 international departures a day. Its Amman base is ideally suited as a regional hub for the Levant, Gulf and Middle East region.

 

Its frequent flyer programme is called Royal Plus, and its website is www.rj.com

 

It reported net profits of US$22 million for 2004, a 259 per cent improvement on 2003, on revenues of US$489 million, up 35 per cent.

 

Founded in 1963, it is currently a public shareholding company wholly owned by the Jordanian government, which intends to privatise it during 2006.

Photographs and logos

Pictures and logos of oneworld and its existing member airlines can be downloaded from oneworld.com/gallery

Images and logos for Royal Jordanian can be found in the oneworld news section there, and by opening the airline's main home page from www.rja.com.jo, and selecting "Media Centre" from the options under "About RJ"

 

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