Royal Jordanian (RJ, Amman Queen Alia) has announced it will shutter its wholly-owned charter subsidiary Royal Wings (Amman Marka) at the end of the month.
In a statement, Royal Jordanian said it could no longer justify keeping the carrier active given its high operating costs and the subsequent losses it has racked up over the past years.
As such, talks are currently ongoing with two parties that are interested in acquiring the carrier's operating licences although this may take some time to complete. Of the two, one is known to be the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) which had earlier indicated it would acquire Royal Wings' AOC and OL for its Fly Aqaba (Aqaba) project in a transaction valued at JOD785,000 dinar (USD1.1 million).
Insofar as Royal Wings' 107-strong workforce is concerned, 12 of them, who had been seconded from Royal Jordanian to Royal Wings, will return to work for RJ. Of the remaining 95 Royal Wings employees, 18 have been given posts at RJ so far with recruitment still underway. Those that are not absorbed have been offered voluntary redundancy packages.
Royal Jordanian's Commercial Department will now assume the task of promoting and selling charter flights that were carried out by Royal Wings and its single A320-200.
