RJ Air Cargo Conference in Amman

President and CEO Samer Majali will open the one-day conference at the Intercontinental Hotel, Amman.

Head of Royal Jordanian's Cargo Sales Department Fathi Hmoud said that the meeting will tackle the general cargo strategies RJ outlined for the next five years and the future of the airline's cargo in view of the new routes, destinations and pricing policies.

Participants at the conference, Hmoud said, will look at the overall performance of air cargo and review commercial agreements and the schedule for winter flights, aiming to find ways to reduce expenses following the global surge in fuel prices.

Hmoud also mentioned that the increase in fuel prices did not affect the cargo costs offered as a subsidy to fruit and vegetable exporters.

He added that the conference will address the role of general cargo agents in supporting Royal Jordanian operations by studying the given incentives and connecting them with the agents' productivity, and reviewing land freight to stations not served by RJ or serviced by smaller aircraft. Such destinations include, regionally, Aqaba, Beirut, Damascus and Tel Aviv, and globally, Europe via Maastricht and the US via New York.

Hmoud said that Royal Jordanian is studying the possibility of finding an additional central hub in Europe, or a replacement for the Maastricht station, in light of the constant increase in air cargo to Europe. Royal Jordanian plans to add extra weekly flights and offer more capacity than now available.

The air cargo operations contribute to 20 percent of RJ's yearly revenues, which last year amounted to JD362 million. Despite increased competition from other airlines in Jordan and abroad, RJ carried about 30,000 tons of cargo during the first half of this year, close to the amount the airline carried during the same period last year.

Royal Jordanian has dedicated two modern Airbus 310 to cargo. These two aircraft, which have a capacity of 38 tons, operate on routes to six major destinations: New York, London, Maastricht, Dubai, Istanbul, Calcutta and Hahn-Frankfurt. In addition, the airline delivers cargo carried by passenger jets to 50 destinations on the RJ network which spans four continents.