Royal Jordanian Turns To Small Narrowbodies To Deliver Savings

Royal Jordanian (RJ) is using its newly delivered Embraer E195 E2s as a means of cutting costs as it battles with the stresses of navigating the Israel-Palestinian conflict raging just across the border.

The year-long strife, which has periodically seen airspace closed to civil flights and many carriers suspending services to Israel, has neighboring Jordan’s economy more than any other country, apart from those of the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon, RJ’s CEO, Samer Majali said.

The conflict started as RJ was in he early stages of a major re-equipment exercise, which is scheduled to increase the airline’s fleet from 28 aircraft to around 40 by 2027, [CHECK] with widebody, narrowbody and small narrowbody sub-fleets all being increased or replaced.

The Jordanian flag-carrier has been a long-time operator of both the Embraer 170 and 190. Four such aircraft are being replaced and supplemented with eight E195 E2s.

Five E195s have so far been delivered, which represent “a major cost saving for us”, Majali said on the sidelines of the Arab Air Carriers Organization annual meeting in Jordan. While softer fuel process have helped RJ’s overall financial position, the Embraers were doing well: “It’s performing beautifully and it’s a major help in terms of fuel. We’re putting them on longer routes because the fuel savings are quite considerable.”

This is particularly true on routes where the new aircraft have replaced older Airbus A320ceos. As a result, the Brazilian small narrowbody jets are turning up on sectors such as Amman-Amsterdam (five hours) and the even longer Amman-Madrid route (5.5 hours).