RJ Air Cargo Conference held in Amman

Great efforts in these two sectors have been extended in order to confront the competition the air transport industry is witnessing globally.

In Majali's opening speech at the RJ Air Cargo Conference 2005, which Royal Jordanian organized at the Intercontinental Hotel, Amman on September 26, he said that last year's performance in the fields of passenger transportation and cargo services registered a record, attaining net profits of JD17 million. He added that a share of the net profits was distributed to RJ employees, creating an incentive for them to achieve better results in the future. Last year's figures show that Royal Jordanian represents a profitable interest and a source of attraction to the investors working in the air transport industry.

Furthermore, Majali reviewed with the participants the major challenges to the air cargo industry. Such challenges include the steep hike in fuel prices and the growing competition in the air transport industry. He noted that this competition increased after applying the open skies policy and the rise in the number of air cargo companies. The surge in fuel prices remains the most significant challenge for RJ. He explained that the company is to pay JD35 million in addition to the amount allotted to the airline's budget for fuel this year. Moreover, RJ will have to pay an additional JD52 million for next year's fuel budget. He also pointed out that the fuel bill accounts for 35 percent of the airline's operational cost.

Majali said that Royal Jordanian has set a target to achieve 10 percent net profits of its annual revenues over the next two years. Investing in the fleet, human resources, information technologies, and the services offered to the passengers is among the concerns to boost the airline's position and its competence towards competition.

He also pointed out that the fleet of Royal Jordanian will be increased to 35 small and middle-sized aircraft during the coming three years for the purpose of serving the regional network. Thus, the airline intends to operate regular and daily flights to all Arab capitals to prepare it for the second phase of privatization. The first phase was transferring RJ to a company owned by the government.

He added 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.

Vice President/Commercial Hussein Dabbas stressed that passenger and air cargo transportation complete each other, and that the air cargo contribute to 20 percent of RJ's yearly revenues.

Dabbas also said that Royal Jordanian has dedicated two modern Airbus 310 to cargo. These two aircraft, which have a capacity of 38 tons, operate on routes to seven 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.

Vice President/Network Planning Geoffrey Weston underlined the role of air cargo in registering RJ's targeted profits especially since most of the air carriers would record losses or minimal gains if it were not for airfreight revenues.

Head of Airport Services Department Mohammad Hashem Murtada outlined the importance of safety, security and punctuality in delivering shipments. He also emphasized the need for training the human resources in the industry.

Head of Cargo Sales Department Fathi Hmoud said that during the sessions of the one-day conference air cargo managers at RJ's stations worldwide discussed the performance and the challenges that the air cargo industry faces as well as their operational plans for the coming stage.

Hmoud pointed out that RJ air cargo revenues amounted to JD362 million last year. 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.

He added that the conference addressed 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.