RJ leases Boeing 737 freighter

The freighter, leased from the Jordanian Company "Transworld", started operating on Oct. 25 for an initial period of six months.

The B737 freighter enables the airline to economically operate to new regional destinations without incurring the cost of introducing new aircraft. The B737 freighter carries a payload of up to 15 tons. The freighter thus accommodates RJ's operations to short-haul points. RJ's Airbus A310 freighters have around 37 tons cargo capacity.

"Royal Jordanian is thus strengthening its foothold in the region, underpinning the services already provided by RJ's modern A310-300 freighters," stressed RJ president/CEO Samer Majali.

Majali said that the lease agreement confirms RJ's keenness to cooperate, and thus support, other companies, especially newly established Jordanian companies operating in the field of air transportation.

Captain Basil Obeidat, managing director of Transworld, said: "We are honored to enhance the national carrier's international air cargo network with our custom-tailored cargo solutions. Our experienced team has been supplying reliable scheduled services for several months and looks forward to many more missions."

Royal Jordanian has recently introduced scheduled services to Baghdad and Damascus using Transworld's Boeing 737F. The airline already used the Boeing 737 freighter for a series of scheduled and charter flights, especially to Iraq. RJ will use this freighter to boost its coverage of the Levant market, introducing it on new routes that are currently being evaluated.

The two companies are looking to jointly develop business from Queen Alia International Airport, Jordan's main gateway, in terms of logistics.

RJ's cargo winter schedule features improved frequency to RJ's European hub Brussels, and start a new weekly service to London Gatwick, which complements the existing service to London Heathrow; it will also start a second frequency to Khartoum, Sudan.

RJ's freight network covers weekly scheduled flights to Algiers, Brussels, London, New York, Riyadh, Khartoum, Athens, Larnaca, Istanbul, in addition to Damascus. At the same time, big loads of cargo are carried on board RJ passenger aircraft to all the airline's 54 international cities.