Royal Jordanian Airlines has made a comeback to India after a gap of 13 years with the launch of direct flights between Amman and Mumbai. The inaugural flight touched down in Mumbai on Thursday.
The new service will operate four times a week aboard the Airbus A320neo. Plans are afoot to expand this service to daily by next year. A senior executive of the airline told FE that direct flights to Delhi will also commence in the next 3-4 months.
This strategic addition strengthens connectivity between India and Jordan and offers onward travel to over 50 destinations across West Asia, Gulf, and North Africa.
Karim Makhlouf, chief commercial officer, Royal Jordanian, said, “We want to drive the number of passengers from India to the Levant region, which includes Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and southern Egypt. This region does not have a strong national carrier and Royal Jordanian can become just that.”
“Mumbai is an important market for our Asia strategy. The aircraft we will offer have 12 business class seats and 140 economy class seats. It will offer in-flight entertainment, leather seats, on-board wifi and catering,” Makhlouf added.
Presently there are no Indian carriers that fly non-stop to Amman. In 2023, Jordan had 75,000 tourists from India. The carrier is aiming to double this in the next two years and is talking to holiday planners like Thomas Cook, MakemyTrip and ClearTrip for promoting tourism.