Royal Jordanian posts full-year profit of $40m

Royal Jordanian Airlines said it has posted full-year profit of JD28.6 million ($40.3m, Dh148m) compared with a net loss of JD24.7m in 2008.

The Amman-based carrier, which is also US planemaker Boeing's first Middle Eastern customer for the 787 Dreamliner aircraft, saw its operating revenue decline 15 per cent to JD598m, the airline said yesterday.

"The drop in revenue is due to the impact of the global economic crisis on travel and tourism in the world and also to a remarkable regression in cargo", the airline's President and Chief Executive Officer, Hussein Dabbas, said in a statement.

The airline, which carried one per cent fewer passengers and 27 per cent less cargo in the year, said its operational costs went down by 19.1 per cent, from JD675m in 2008 to JD546.8m in 2009, "basically due to the decrease in fuel prices globally, leading to a decline in the fuel bill of the company by 47 per cent compared to 2008 to become JD136m in 2009".

Also, the airline's gross profits for 2009 amounted to JD52.1m against JD24.9m last year, marking a 109 per cent increase, Dabbas said.

Expressing optimism about the future of the company and its potential to achieve better results this year, Dabbas further said that in 2010 the airline will focus on facing new challenges, "particularly in light of the annulment of the route exclusivity in February", which Royal Jordanian enjoyed on all its regular routes.

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