ROYAL JORDANIAN 1977-1989
1977
ALIA received its 2 Boeing 747-200 in 1977: the first on April 13 (JY-AFA) and the other on May 11 (JY-AFB)
JY-AFA IN TWO DELIVERIES : 1978 AND 1987
By Michel Gilliand - http://www.airliners.net/photo/Alia---Royal/Boeing-747-2D3B/1148699/L/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16590294
_Royal_Jordanian_JY-AFA,_AMS_Amsterdam_(Schiphol),_Netherlands_PP1164719471.jpg#/media/File:Boeing_747-2D3B(SCD)_Royal_Jordanian_JY-AFA,_AMS_Amsterdam_(Schiphol),_Netherlands_PP1164719471.jpg)
By Peter Bakema - Photo http://i.planepictures.net/56/05/1164719471.jpg Gallery page http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=1164719471, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31213192
The delivery of the new planes will allow to expand
and to enter the very lucrative North American market by launching flights to
New York JFK airport via a stop in Amsterdam . The year will see also the
opening of the routes to Larnaca and to Benghazi whereas routes to Casablanca, Deir Er Zor and
Aleppo will vanish from the company’s network map.
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| Avertising for the Boeing 747 (flight international) |
1978
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| From the collection of Arthur Na |
RKT is added to the network.
1979
The year begins badly with the company with the crash of Boeing 727-200 on approach to Doha due to foul weather. 48 souls will be lost in the crash. 2nd destination in the USA is added with Houston as an add-on on the JFK service
1980
While Vienna is added the company continues its
profitability track record with a net profit of GBP 2,050,000. A third Boeing
747-200 is delivered and a new bilateral agreement is signed between the USA
and Jordan with rights to New York, Chicago, Houston. Rights to Los Angeles will come
into force in 1983. |
| From the collection of Arthur Na |
The year begins badly with the company with the crash of Boeing 727-200 on approach to Doha due to foul weather. 48 souls will be lost in the crash. 2nd destination in the USA is added with Houston as an add-on on the JFK service
1980
1981
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| From the collection of Arthur Na |
will be a
fertile year for the company as its network further expands with the addition
of Tunis and Bucharest, Benghazi is
replaced by Tripoli, Casablanca is added
again as an extension of the line Amman-Madrid , and Chicago , the 3rd
US destination for the company is linked to Jordan (through JFK). The company presents for its
fiscal year an increase of 60% in profit culminating at GBP 3,200,000 with
healthy Load factors of 65% for its European routes, 78% for its Gulf and FarEast
routes and 70% for its JFK run according to an article published in Flight
International.
The year will see also the birth of Arab Air Cargo a joint venture between ALIA and IRAQI AIRWAYS .
Each airline provided Boeing 707 freighters from their existing fleet. The new
airline runs schedules from Amman to Baghdad and from both these cities to Paris,
Brussels, Amsterdam, Rome ,Athens and Larnaca and from Baghdad additional services to Frankfurt,
Paris and Madrid.
1982
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| 1981 Middle East-North Africa-Europe destinations |
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| 1981 Intercontinental network |
1982
1982 will bring some unexpected changes Houston and Chicago
services will be discontinued but Istanbul will be a new addition to the network .
Tripoli and Tunis will be served directly and the Casablanca service will be re-routed
through Tunis rather than Madrid. Madrid loses its Athens stop, whereas the Amman-London segment acquires 2 stops 1 through Istanbul and the other through Paris (Orly)
1983
1983
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| From the collection of Arthur Na |
1983 will be a simple continuation of 1982 with BEG as
a new European destination added on the Amman-London segment, and the airline will
stop its RKT services. The TIP service will be extended to Madrid and the sector
Beirut-Larnaca will be discarded from the network.
In May 25, 1983, the new Queen
ALIA airport openes and RJ303 Aqaba-Amman will be the first flight to land in
the new airport.
1984
1984
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| From the collection of Arthur Na |
1984 will be a turning point
in the history of the company. It acquires
the last 5 L1011-500 built in a deal valued at more than $200 Mio (the 1st
one is delivered on 3/3//84 coinciding with the launch of new service to Los Angeles ) and after a decade of profits the company
turns a sizeable loss of about $25.2Mio. Passengers transported reach
1,300,000. The company however continues its expansion with the addition of
Berlin as an extension of the Bucharest route, Singapre is launched in May and Los Angeles is
launched on March 3, 1984 as an extension of the Chicago segment marking the return
of Chicago in the company’s network. Riyadh becomes the 3rd destination of
ALIA in Saudi Arabia. Some minor changes occur during the year, the Istanbul segment
is extended to Beograd, Madrid loses its direct service and is rerouted via Geneva and so
is Larnaca (via Damascus), Copenhagen is rerouted
through Frankfurt instead of Athens, Muscat is via Bahrain instead of Dubai and Dubai is routed through Kuwait in addition to its
direct services.
Gallery of the L1011-500 in 4 different Liveries
By Eduard Marmet - http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0955688/L/, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7001076
By AlainDurand - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Royal-Jordanian-Airline/Lockheed-L-1011-385-3-TriStar/0754268/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/8/6/2/0754268.jpg, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27353240
By Ralf Manteufel - http://abpic.co.uk/photo/1322072/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44138181
By Eduard Marmet - Gallery page http://www.airliners.net/photo/Alia---Royal/Lockheed-L-1011-385-3-TriStar/1591709/L Photo http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/9/0/7/1591709.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28484715
1985
1985 is a rather calm year
with Kuala Limpur added to the network where as SXF is stopped. New lines see the light
of the day a new service Aqaba-Cairo, Beograd is served directly and Singapre is rerouted
through the new opened destination Kuala Limpur. Muscat is rerouted once more through Dubai
and Bahrain segment is extended to Abu Dhabi. 2 seasonal destinations make their
appearance in the summer schedule of the company Paphos and Malaga.
1986
1986
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| From the collection of Arthur Na |
Foreseeing the expansion of the company, ALIA orders,
in 1986, a mix of A310 and A320 to replace the Boeing 707 and Boeing 727
respectively. Losses were trimmed from a high $25 M to $5M in 1986 and in
December of the same year the company changes its name from ALIA to Royal
Jordanian.
Network wise Moscow and Sanaa are the new additions to the
network whereas Beirut services are halted due to the unstable political and
security situation in the country (The destruction of JY-AFW at Beirut airport
following a hijacking (June 12, 1985 )played a determining role in the
cancellation of the service). Routes wise, BEG is again extended to London, Larnaca has
a non-stop service instead of being rerouted through Damascus and Brussels acquires a non-stop
link through Amman instead of being an extension of the Amman-Frankfurt line. Of the
wonders of route building, RJ had for the summer 1986 the following routes:
Amman-Brussels-Frankfurt-Amman and Amman-Larnaca-Paris (Orly ap)-Brussels-Amman.
1987
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| From the collection of Arthur Na |
1987 will bring Sharjah served through Bahrain and Montreal connected through Vienna and continuing to New York. Doha and Sana’a will lose their Non Stop status and will be connected to Amman through Bahrain and Jeddah respectively. Intermediate sectors lost during the year were: Aqaba-Cairo, Beograd-London,Geneva-Madrid, Larnaca-Paris and London-Paris, but were replaced by Rome-Madrids, Beograd-Madrid,Geneva-london,Frankfurt-London and Brussels-Geneva.
On March 13, 1987 the first A310 will be delivered to
ROYAL JORDANIAN and some the aircrafts
delivered will be named after members of the royal Jordanian family : Prince
Ali, Prince Faisal, Prince Hamzah and
Princess Haya.
1988
1988 will see an expansion of the company to Delhi and
Calcutta and the addition of Miami as the company’s 5th North
American destination. Doha and Sana’a regain their Non-stop status and the
sector to Damascus is extended to Larnaca.
Some peculiar routes in that 1988 summer schedule were Amman-Brussels-Monteal-NewYork-Amman and Amman-Brussels--NewYor-Montreal-Amman.
1989
1989
Ankara joins Royal Jordanian network in 1989 where as Sharjah exits the
map. Moscow seems to be served on a seasonal basis and Copenhagen is served through
Larnaca instead of the traditional Frankfurt stop.
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| 1989 Middle East and North African Network |
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| 1989 European network |
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| 1989 Intercontiental network |
During this decade, the company was able to double its network, and to
increase its destinations from 33 to 45 with most gains in Asia and North
America (see tables below)
You can read more on the fascinating history of Royal Jordanian Airlines in this blog at the following links
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