Royal Jordanian is a truly boutique airline with some special soft touch points "

In line with the “Explore Jordan” program, Royal Jordanian has announced the launch of direct flights between Amman to Mumbai and Delhi this year. The Mumbai route will operate with four weekly flights starting on April 17, 2025, and the Delhi route will commence with four weekly flights starting on September 17, 2025. These new routes align with Royal Jordanian's growth and expansion strategy, focusing on positioning Jordan as a premier tourism destination for the Indian market and enhancing connectivity to over 45 global destinations. At an event in Delhi, Karim Makhlouf, Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Jordanian Airlines, in an interview with Aviation World adds on more on the plans ahead. Excerpts...

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Q: Tell us about your journey with Royal Jordanian?

A: When I joined Royal Jordanian four years ago, we started to change the way we do business. Our new strategy is a bit different to other airlines and is focused primarily on tourism into Jordan because I can tell you clearly that Jordan is a cool destination and it's very difficult for other destinations to compete with Jordan. While as an airline of course it's not so easy to compete with everyone, so that's why tourism into Jordan is it and that's our new prime focus is to increase the awareness of Jordan which is still relatively niche and urgent is a fundamental new strategy for Royal Jordanian Airlines.

Q: What's the strategy and offer you have for Indian tourists?

A: We are a 61-year-old airline and we are one of the pioneer airlines in the Gulf and Middle East way before Emirates and Etihad and so on were founded. One can imagine the change in this strategy was not that easy from a corporate culture level but as an aviation passionate and aviation expert, I strongly believe that this is our only chance to survive. The second strategy and pillar is to develop Amman, the capital of Jordan, not just as the hub for Jordan but for the Levant.

Levant is an area in the Middle East which we call Levant with the surrounding countries of Jordan where you have Syria, Iraq, Palestine, you have even Cyprus.