| KLIA WELCOMES BACK ROYAL JORDANIAN AIRLINES |
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KUALA LUMPUR - After a seven-year absence, Royal Jordanian Airlines resumes its flights back to KL International Airport (KLIA) today, becoming the 11th Middle Eastern airline to serve KLIA. With Royal Jordanian on board, the number of airlines operating at KLIA has reached 60. Royal Jordanian is the third Middle Eastern airline that Malaysia Airports has managed to attract to KLIA this year. Currently, the other Middle Eastern airlines flying to KLIA are Iran Air, Emirates, Gulf Air, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Kuwait Airways, Yemenia Yemen Airways, Mahan Air and Oman Air. The latter two were the other airlines which started servicing KLIA in 2010. Royal Jordanian Airlines commences three weekly flights for the Amman - Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur route on every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, utilising its latest aircraft the Airbus 330 with a 280 seating configuration. Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, the Managing Director of Malaysia Airports said: "Malaysia Airports is very delighted with Royal Jordanian's decision to recommence its' flights to KLIA again. Since the airline ceased its operations to Kuala Lumpur in 2003, we have worked hard to convince the airline that Kuala Lumpur can provide good passenger traffic. The unified efforts between the Ministry of Transport, Malaysia Airports and Tourism Malaysia have finally managed to woo the airline back to Malaysia." He added: "We will support Royal Jordanian as best as we can to ensure their stay in Malaysia is permanent. We believe that they have made a timely decision to return to KLIA, to take advantage of the growing passenger traffic between Asia and Middle East. We look forward to their success on this route and hope that the airline will be offering direct flights between Amman to Kuala Lumpur very soon." The airline's President/CEO Hussein Dabbas pointed out that the decision to reconnect Jordan and Malaysia came in light of the Malaysian economic revival and the growth of its commercial activity and tourism. Malaysia is considered a gateway to Southeast Asia, particularly in the economic field. Dabbas said the feasibility studies that Royal Jordanian conducted showed that resuming flights to Kuala Lumpur is bound to service the economic and commercial movement especially the communities living in the two countries, particularly students and businessmen. Additionally, RJ will be transporting tourist groups to and from Malaysia, as Malaysia is a preferred destination for Jordanian families and from various other countries in the region. Dabbas also said that Jordan constitutes to be a stopover destination for the Malaysian passengers traveling to the holy places in Mecca, Medina Munawwara and Jerusalem. Kuala Lumpur is the second destination that the airline has added into its network this year, the first was Medina. YB Datuk Abd. Rahim bin Bakri, Deputy Minister of Transport Malaysia led the Malaysian delegates in welcoming arriving passengers of Flight RJ180 along with Malaysia Airports' Chairman Tan Sri Aris Othman, Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad and Y.Bhg. Dato’ Amirrudin Abu, Deputy Director General (Promotion), Tourism Malaysia. Among the arriving passengers were Mr. Hussein Dabbas and Mr. Nayef Al Fayez, the Chairman of Jordan Tourism Board. The passengers were presented with souvenirs from Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airports. About Malaysia Airports |
