Royal Jordanian wants to grow its widebody fleet with three leased Boeing 787-9s while it continues negotiations with Boeing on the purchase of more aircraft. The carrier shared the fleet plans in its 2022 annual report that was published recently.
In the report, Royal Jordanian says that it expected to conclude a lease agreement in the first quarter, but it isn’t known if it actually completed a deal in the quarter that ended last Friday. The carrier also says that “the company is currently in talks with Boeing to increase the number of B787 aircraft and replace the old ones in the coming period to work on long network lines.”
Royal Jordanian operates a fleet of seven 787-8s, the first of which was delivered in August 2014 and the last in January 2017. Five out of seven aircraft are on lease from AerCap and Avolon. Both lessors have unfilled orders for Dreamliners, but at the current low production rate of the 787, it isn’t clear when and if the lessors do have aircraft available.
The annual report confirms that the purchase of twenty Airbus A320neo family aircraft that was announced on October 3 is not a direct order with Airbus. The aircraft will be leased, but no lessor is identified. That also applies to details of the ten Embraer E2-jets, both E190-E2s and E195-E2s, for which Royal Jordanian signed an MoU on October 6.
The airline ended 2022 with a -78.9 million dinar net loss compared to -74.3 million in 2021. Revenues were 612.9 million dinars versus 357.1 million in the previous year, but expenses were higher at 616.9 million dinars compared to 368.3 million. The operating loss was -58 million dinars versus -48.2 million in 2021. The airline group ended the year with 56.3 million dinars in cash and cash equivalents and 711 million dinars in liabilities.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
