Air Aviation News – RJ President/CEO Hussein Dabbas noticed the progress all the company’s operational performance indicators achieved in October, in terms of number of passengers and frequency and flying hours, which resulted in an 8% increase in revenues, compared to the same month in 2010.
Dabbas said that RJ’s operating revenues reached JD 60.2 million last month, compared to JD 55.7 million during the same month last year; this led to a rise in the operating profit, which reached JD18.8 million, excluding fuel cost. During the same month last year, the revenues stood at JD17.5 million, marking a 7.1% increase.
The operating cost – excluding fuel cost – rose from JD38 million in October 2010 to JD41 million in October 2011 as a result of operational traffic growth and an increase in the number of frequencies and flying hours.
Dabbas added that the continuous fluctuation of fuel prices was the major reason that prevented the airline from achieving a net profit in the mentioned month. He pointed out that the fuel bill paid by the company last month amounted to JD24.2 million, while it had reached JD17 million in October 2010, marking an increase of JD 7.2 million, or 42%.
Dabbas also said that RJ suffered from a decline in tourism and travel to the region, particularly from Europe, due to the Arab Spring. At the same time, the airline has been suffering from soaring fuel prices since the beginning of this year. The total fuel bill paid by the airline since the beginning of 2011 until the end of October amounted to JD246 million, compared to JD 168 million in the same period of 2010, representing a 46.2%.increase.
The chairman attributed the increase in company revenues during last October to the great and diligent efforts made inside and outside the Kingdom to strengthen its position and increase its market share, in an attempt to overcome the difficulties experienced by the global air transport industry this year.
Royal Jordanian carried 263,000 passengers during October, while it carried 250,000 passengers in the same month last year, marking a 5% increase. RJ aircraft also had 3,312 flights, compared to 3,159 flights during the same time last year, an increase of 4.8%, bringing up the number of flying hours to 9,776 compared to9,122 flights in the comparison period, or an increase of 7.2%.
