Royal Jordanian (RJ) will resume its Amman-Baghdad flights after an agreement was reached with insurers covering the commercial aircraft flying the route. Insurance underwriters have suspended war risk coverage, following the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. The national carrier will operate four chartered flights a week to the Iraqi capital starting December 14, RJ President and CEO Samer Majali stated to the state news agency Petra .
RJ resumed its Baghdad-bound flights in June after a decade-long break, in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Initially operating a bi-weekly flight schedule, the Jordanian airline increase its flights to three in August and was planning a daily flight by year-end to meet the growing demand for air travel between the two countries, reported Reuters.
RJ faced a serious financial crisis in the wake of the September 11 events, and received a generous two billion dollar rescue package from the Jordanian government. The company has a fleet of 14 planes, a mix of Airbus 310 AND 320 planes that fly to 47 destinations. The national carrier is to be restructured into a public shareholding entity under a privatization scheme adopted last February. — (menareport.com)
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