Amman, ALIA- The Royal Jordanian Airlines Plc. "RJ" (ASE: RJAL) general assembly held its fifth annual ordinary session on April 26, 2012,  presided by Chairman of the Board of Directors Nasser Lozi.

Attending were members of the board of directors, RJ President and Chief Executive Officer Hussein Dabbas, the companies’ general comptroller, Ernst and Young auditors of RJ accounts, and a number of shareholders owning 64.4% of the company capital, which amounts to 84.3 million shares/dinars.

The general assembly elected a new board of directors for four years tenure:

• Nasser Lozin (re-elected as chairman) 
• Akel Biltaji representing the government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 
• Abdel Rahman Al-Khatib representing the Social Security Corporation, 
• Maher Najeeb Mikati representing the Mint Trading Middle East Limited,
• Marwan Awad, 
• Shareef Al-Zubi, 
• Mohammed Ali Bdeir, 
• Amr Bilbeisi, 
• Samer Muasher.

Lozi outlined the following:

• The demand for travel to and from Jordan and the region vastly regressed. In RJ case, most of its routes saw a drop in the demand for travel, particularly to destinations where instability prevailed, such as Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and others.
  
  
• Tourism from the conventional tourism markets in Europe and the Far East deteriorated in 2011 as well. RJ saw a clear drop in the number of European tourist groups; it lost around 125,000 European passengers. 
  
  
• Royal Jordanian witnessed a 15% to 20% growth in the number of passengers and revenues in past years, in 2011 saw only a 6.2% increase in the number of passengers, which led to a 7.5% growth in revenues and 3% growth in flight frequencies and flying hours. Despite these modest increases, the 19.4% increase in the operational expenses prevented the airline from registering net profits in 2011. 
  
  
• One other main reason for the negative results in 2011, added Lozi, was the 44% increase in fuel prices over 2010. 
  
  
• Royal Jordanian was capable of achieving positive operational results in spite of the obstacles; the revenues went up from JD685 million in 2010 to JD736 million in 2011. Also the number of passengers increased to 3,155,000, against 3 million passengers transported in 2010.
  
  
• The airline took several decisions in 2012 to overcome this difficult period and avoid unsatisfactory results. It decided to suspend operations to several destinations where, studies showed, demand was lowest.
  
  
• Royal Jordanian also decided to reduce frequencies to some stations, like Rome, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Amsterdam, Colombo and Khartoum. 
  
  
• Royal Jordanian will continue to cancel flights if need be, depending on the volume of bookings to some destinations. Last year, 1,400 flights were cancelled; more than 500 were cancelled in the first three months of this year. 
  
  
• Royal Jordanian  running a cost-control policy on all capital expenditures, in addition to having frozen recruitment. It is focusing on raising the employees’ productivity, increase revenues and reduce costs. 

The general assembly approved the Board of Directors' financial report for 2011, its future plans and the financial statements. It also discharged the Board of Directors and re-confirmed  Ernst and Young as ALIA- The Royal Jordanian Airlines Plc. auditors for 2012 financial year.

The Jordanian government holds 26% of  shares, Social Security Corporation (10% ), Jordanian armed forces (3%), Mint Trading Middle East Limited (19%),  the remaining shares are held by both Jordanian and non-Jordanian companies and individuals. Of the total, 70% of the shares are held by Jordanians. Legally, the shares owned by Jordanians in ALIA- The Royal Jordanian Airlines Plc. should be not less than 51% for the airline to enjoy the air traffic rights as stipulated by national bilateral agreements.

Source: Royal Jordanian