Royal Jordanian (RJ), the national airline of Jordan, intends to boost its operations on its cargo route to Vienna by adding a second frequency in May and a third one in November, said a senior official.

Royal Jordanian vice president of Cargo Sales and Services Muath Majali pointed out that the company launched a new cargo route to Vienna at the end of last year, operating one flight per week, to market the products of Jordan in Austria and Eastern Europe.

The new route is witnessing increased improvement, with large amounts of cargo coming to the country from Eastern Europe, he said.

Majali said that the air cargo industry started to implement some successful new strategies to its operations, including the sale of the whole aircraft cargo capacity from Vienna.

This particular strategy might be applied on some other active cargo routes in an attempt to contribute to improving the financial situation of the company.

The airline is conducting feasibility studies to start cargo operations to Tripoli, Benghazi and Misarata, in Libya, and Nairobi, in East Africa, according to Majali who stressed that Royal Jordanian aims to provide the required capacity on its aircraft to serve the Jordanian exports of vegetables, fruits, medicine and other products.

Majali said the airline, which has exclusivity in providing air freight services to companies operating at Queen Alia International Airport, is planning to open a special warehouse in mid-February for courier companies operating at the airport.

The new warehouse will be located inside the main warehouse, serving as a center point for exchanging courier between these companies and their customers through Royal Jordanian.

The airline will provide handling services for the new warehouse, Majali added.

In return, the courier companies will take care of the customs procedures and deliver courier to their customers, adding that Royal Jordanian excels in providing services in this area, thus helping increase the revenues generated from the transport of courier.
Majali added that the company has recently concluded commercial agreements with many regional and international parties.

The agreements include carrying mail, including carrying Syrian mail to and from stations that are not served by the Syrian airline, Iraqi mail from Baghdad and Erbil to other countries, and an agreement with the Palestinian postal corporation, as well as other agreements to transport mail from Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Thailand and India.

The air cargo has recently obtained the ISO 9001:2008 certificate, which is proof of international recognition of the efficiency of shipping services offered by the airline to its customers and to the logistics companies operating at the airport through the sales offices of the department, as well as the warehouses with an area of 17,000 sq m, he pointed out.

All the shipping procedures, like storage, documentation and other complementary services, are undertaken electronically, he said.

The airline accounts for 60 per cent of freight exports from Jordan and 40 per cent of its imports. – TradeArabia News Service