Royal Jordanian pulls out of India
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Royal Jordanian Airlines has confirmed that it will suspend all services to India later this year, as part of its restructuring plan.
Jordan’s national carrier currently flies four times a week from Ammam to Mumbai, and six times a week between Amman and New Delhi – the only direct connection between the capitals of Jordan and India.
But the Mumbai route will cease operating from 10 September 2014 and the Delhi service will be suspended from 31 October 2014. This marks the latest stage in Royal Jordanian’s route rationalisation strategy; the national carrier pulled out of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo earlier this year, while flights to Alexandria, Milan and Accra have also ceased operating. Flights to Nigeria’s largest city Lagos will end on 10 October 2014.
The airline’s chairman, president & CEO, Nasser Lozi, said Royal Jordanian is “facing difficulties due to the instability in the region and high fuel prices”.
The decision to remove the Indian routes was taken due to “reduced demand” and “aggressive growth of regional competition”. India’s new air services agreement with the UAE has seen Emirates, Etihad and flydubai add more capacity on routes to Indian cities, including Mumbai and Delhi.
Following this round of route cuts, Royal Jordanian’s network has been reduce to 51 routes, but Lozi said that “there are a number of regional markets” that the airline is “watching closely”.
As well as the strategic route cuts, Royal Jordanian has also ceased operating to Damascus, Aleppo, Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata, Mosul and Tel Aviv for security reasons.
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