Jordan's airline sees 25% passenger hike in Jan

Royal Jordanian has posted a record for passengers flown in January, as numbers grew 55,000 compared to the same month in 2011. A total of 268,000 passengers used the airline last month, marking a 25 percent increase, and a two percent increase over the estimated budget. The number is the highest achieved by the airline for the month of January since it started operations, the airline said in a statement. The airline's president/CEO, Hussein Dabbas, said that seat factors in January rose to 72 percent, compared to 66 percent in the same month last year. He added that flying hours during the same month increased by 5 percent, while cargo uplifted increased by 24 percent. Dabbas said he was pleased with the performance considering the difficulties experienced by the aviation industry worldwide. He said that the aviation industry was still suffering from a decline in travel, especially from Europe and the Far East, due to the events taking place in Syria. He added that sharp competition in the region had led to a drop in ticket prices, increasing pressure on yield and revenues. Dabbas said soaring fuel prices in the current year raised the fuel bill paid by the airline in January to JD23.1m, compared to JD17.7m in the same month last year, an increase of 30 percent. This had driven an increase in the total operating cost of the company for January by 17 percent.