Dec. 15, 2009 marks the 46th anniversary of Royal Jordanian, a company etablished by a decree issued by His Majesty King Hussein in 1963 to be the national carrier, with the aim of contributing to developing and promoting services, creating better ties with the world, promoting interaction with other cultures and establishing relations with other nations.

For the last decades, this leading company has continuously progressed, living up to its role as the country’s flag carrier, maintaining its identity, history and culture. RJ still performs this role, under the invaluable guidance and directives of His Majesty King Abdullah II, who spares no effort in lending his support to the airline. Thus, RJ continues its strides by renewing its fleet and expanding its route network and operations, enabling it to contribute to boosting the position of Jordan as the main gateway to the Middle East. 

Comparing the results of the first year of its establishment and those estimated for 2009, it can be seen that the number of passengers increased from 87,000 in 1964 to an estimated 2.667 million at the end of this year. The number of flights grew to reach 35,628 this year, in comparison to 4,193 in 1964. Moreover, the number of aircraft rose from two to 29, and RJ’s destinations from three to 56.

Financially, the company's revenues were JD1 million in 1964, expecting them to reach JD574 million in the 2009 fiscal year. A large increase could be observed in employees’ productivity, from JD4,000 in the year of establishment to JD134,000 per employee this year.

Royal Jordanian was transformed into a public shareholding company fully owned by the government on Feb. 5, 2001. Its capital rose to today's JD84.4 million.

In December 2007, the Jordanian government floated around 60% of the shares for underwriting, representing 71% of the total issued share capital, keeping 29% of the shares. RJ shares started trading on the Amman Stock Exchange on Dec. 17, 2007. At that time, Jordanians owned approximately 56.2% of the shares which increased to today's 68%.
 
Nowadays, RJ employs 4,300 people in Jordan and at its outstations around the world, distinguished through their professionalism and expertise. They operate a modern fleet of aircraft, including Airbus A310, A319, A320, A321, A340, Embraer 195 and Embraer 175 aircraft.
In March 2009, Royal Jordanian concluded the modernization program of its short- and medium-haul fleet, whereby RJ introduced 19 newly manufactured airliners and designated names of Jordanian cities on the new aircraft as part of its mission of promoting Jordan to the world.
In this year, a new commercial service was introduced on two Airbus A319s to enable RJ passengers to stay connected while in flight, using mobile phones to make and receive calls, exchange text and multimedia messages. It also allows passengers to send e-mails and access the Internet through smartphones or any other mobile phone equipped with the GPRS service.
Regarding the modernization program of the long-haul fleet, the airline selected the wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner as a replacement aircraft for its long-range Airbus A340s and A310s operating to the United States, Canada and the Far East. It placed its order to introduce about 12 Boeing 787s under the airline's long-haul fleet modernization program. 

The first B787 was scheduled to join the fleet in 2010 however it was delayed until the beginning of 2013, a Boeing decision. Negotiations are going on with Boeing to compensate RJ for this delay.

Locally, Royal Wings, an RJ subsidiary company, is dedicated to charter business.

Networkwise, the airline opened new services to Brussels and Benghazi in 2009, bringing the airline's destations to 56, and it will add Madinah Munawwarh in Saudi Arabia next April. In order to cater to the demand, RJ is considering expanding its route network by adding new destinations during the coming three years.
 
In view of its reputation and international level of competitiveness, Royal Jordanian officially joined the oneworld airline alliance in 2007. RJ is thus the first Arab and regional air carrier selected to join any of the three global airline alliances.

RJ's membership in oneworld, along with the other 10 members and their 20 affiliates, represent 8,500 daily flights operated to more than 750 points in 150 countries. The oneworld member airlines operate 2,500 aircraft, carrying around 330 million passengers yearly. They attain annual revenues reaching USD100 billion.

In light of the airline's modernization and development policy, RJ introduced several advanced, state-of-the-art systems, linking up with the oneworld airline members; the most significant are the electronic ticketing and the departure control systems, the Internet booking, the frequent flyer program (Hitit), the revenue management system (PROS) and a new group revenue management and the revenue accounting (Sirax) systems.

Other IT systems were also implemented to make it easier for passengers to deal with all travel procedures, like the advanced boarding pass and Common Use Self Service check-in system (CUSS). Additionally, the airline opened a 24/7 Call Centre, which offers RJ customers from all over the world reservation services, information regarding the frequent flyer program, flight schedules, luggage and ticket fares. Royal Jordanian provides competitive ticket prices and valuable offers to give wider choices to passengers.

In recognition of the RJ achievements in the last few years, Royal Jordanian won six world-class awards, five of which are granted to the air transport industry and one national. It was awarded the Merit Award for the Airline Turnaround of the Year 2006 at the 3rd Annual Asia Pacific and Middle East Aviation Outlook Summit, and the Phoenix Award presented by Air Transport World magazine (ATW).
 
RJ was nominated the winner of the Airline Strategy Award in the technology category organized by Airline Business magazine in 2007. At the beginning of 2008, Royal Jordanian was granted the “Airline of the Year 2007” award, following a study performed by Air Finance Journal. And in April this year, the airline was awarded the Air Cargo Award of Excellence in the Air Carrier category

It also won King Abdullah II Award for Excellence in the large service organizations category. The award is considered the most prestigious reward for excellence at national level, for all sectors.