ATW Daily News

Royal Jordanian's Majali steps down

Tuesday June 30, 2009

Royal Jordanian President and CEO Samer Majali will leave the airline Aug. 1, the company announced, saying only that he resigned "upon his request," while he told ATWOnline that "after 30 years at the airline and eight years as chief executive, I decided it was time for me to move on."

He declined to comment on his future, which he said is "still under discussion." An announcement should come "soon, maybe in the next two weeks," he told this website.

Majali, who holds a degree in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University in the UK, joined RJ in 1979 and was named CEO in 2001. He served as chairman of IATA's board of governors until June.

Chairman Nasser Lozi praised Majali's "huge and ongoing efforts. . .to develop RJ and put it on a par with the advanced airlines," and said he enabled it "to hold an eminent position in the air transport industry despite the challenges and difficult times that the industry has gone through in the past few years."

Majali brought RJ into oneworld in 2007, making it the first Middle Eastern airline to join one of the major global alliances. He also managed the successful privatization of the flag carrier, the region's first (ATWOnline, Dec. 12, 2007).

RJ currently is seeing an increase in traffic compared to the first quarter, when passenger numbers fell some 10%, Majali said. "Passengers are coming back, but yields remain under pressure also because of the high amount of new aircraft coming into the region," he noted. The outlook for the third quarter is "good," he added, "but the final quarter is a question mark." Overall, he expressed confidence that full-year traffic will be close to 2008's 2.7 million passengers. RJ reported a JOD8.5 million ($11.9 million) first-quarter loss.

by Cathy Buyck

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