DUBAI—Royal Jordanian is growing its Boeing 787 fleet and improving connectivity on its current 787s, placing an order for six more 787-9s at the Dubai Airshow while sharing plans to perform inflight connectivity modifications on its 787-8s.
Announced Nov. 13, the deal reconfirms a previous order for two 787-9s and includes four additional aircraft which will bring Royal Jordanian’s total 787-9 fleet to nine. The carrier already operates seven 787-8s.
Royal Jordanian CEO Samer Majali says the inflight connectivity modifications on its 787-8s will help extend service life for the fleet. “Our current 787s are probably about eight or nine years old, so they’re still fairly young and worth investing in as well,” he tells ShowNews. “The idea is to bring them up to the 787-9 standard so we can continue using them.”
Boeing Global Services will perform engineering work and supply kits for the modifications. The companies did not reveal further details about the modification work, but Majali says Royal Jordanian expects to have the project completed by the time it receives its new 787-9s.
The 787-9s will be delivered over the next 5-6 years. Majali says the airline expects to receive approximately 1-2 aircraft per year. At last month’s Routes World conference in Istanbul, Majali said the airline’s 787 fleet expansion plans are aimed at increasing operations into North America and Canada, as well as potentially opening up routes in Asia.
Meanwhile, the airline has been forced to adjust routes in the Middle East due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. “We’ve seen some reduction in our traffic, and obviously we have additional costs because we have to fly longer routes to avoid the conflict area,” says Majali, noting that routes to Europe and the U.S. are now approximately 20-25 minutes longer. Last month, he noted that there had been a 10-15% drop-off in reservations on Royal Jordanian.
