Adviser set for Royal appointment

15 July 2005
Royal Jordanian (RJ)is set to appoint a financial adviser once the World Bank has completed its financial study into privatising the national carrier.
Royal Jordanian (RJ)is set to appoint a financial adviser once the World Bank has completed its financial study into privatising the national carrier.

'The adviser will be appointed and will make an assessment on how to proceed, which may either involve an initial public offering [IPO] or a private placement,' RJ president Samer Majali told MEED in late June. 'RJ's strategy is to put value back into the company and build up its profitability. In the future we will aim for 10 per cent profitability on total sales with two objectives in mind: to make RJ more financially robust so that it can build up its fleet capacity; and to make it an attractive investment opportunity.'

RJ initially plans to acquire six new AirbusA340s on operating lease over the next eight months. It has recently opened up new routes to Aleppo, Alexandria, Khartoum, Moscow and Barcelona and closed others, such as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Brussels. 'Over the next three years, we plan to invest in a regional open-skies network, which gives airlines free access flights and capacity in an open and fair environment, linking Jordan to every major Arab city and secondary cities with at least one or two flights a day,' Majali said.

RJ also plans to develop Queen Alia International Airport in Amman as an effective regional hub by accelerating its privatisation. The most likely plan will be to reconfigure the airport under a build-own-operate (BOT) contract (MEED 18:2:05).

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