The management board of AAC was finalised in early July and its chief executive officer (CEO) Hanna Najjar is the former head of the Civil Aviation Authority. The contract to provide passenger handling services at KHIA may be offered to private investors. 'We were negotiating with Royal Jordanian,' says a senior ADC official. 'However passenger handling services could be liberalised and offered to other [private] investors.'

The modernisation of the airport is under way. A team of PWC Logistics and National Aviation Services, both of Kuwait, has the 15-year contract to equip and operate the existing cargo terminal at KHIA. Canada's Sypher: Mueller International has carried out the masterplan. The terminal will target increased freight requirements in the region, particularly from the reconstruction programme in Iraq. The project is in keeping with ADC's strategy to involve the private sector in key transport and logistics facilities in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (MEED 16:6:06).