Royal Jordanian was the first of the middle eastern carriers to receive the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Therefore its jets are already approaching rapidly 10 years of age. Since that order and delivery, the Jordanian flag carrier hasn’t received other ULR capable wide body jets. The implication of these facts is that there was no possibility of expanding the existing destination network and that some of the older 787’s products are starting to be quite dated. So the moment for a new aircraft order was clearly needed. So let’s find out about Royal Jordanian’s new 787 Dreamliner order with Boeing.
The Royal Jordanian Boeing 787 Order at Dubai Air Show 2023
The order isn’t as massive or impressive as the one placed by Emirates with Boeing, but the scale of the two carriers is completely different. Relative to the its scale and operations, the Royal Jordanian order is just as important and vital for the carrier.
Royal Jordanian has agreed with Boeing at the Dubai Air Show to order further 4 Boeing 787-9. As the carrier already had 2 on the Boeing order book the backlog has now risen to 6 planes.
How Will These New Planes Help Boost The Airline’s Operations?
The Jordanian carrier has been fleet limited for quite some time now. It operates most of its European network on narrow body planes freeing its fleet of 7 Boeing 787-8 for its long range operations. However this small number of wide bodies has limited the possibility of further expanding its network in attractive new markets.
Also the variant currently on the Boeing order book is the larger 787-9 which can seat more passengers compared to the 787-8 currently in the RJ fleet. This means that the airline will be able to deploy more capacity on key routes.
New Planes Which Cabins?
What we don’t know yet is which cabin interiors Royal Jordanian will fit on these new Boeing 787-9s. I don’t think it is reasonable to think that they will fit the same cabins as seen on their 787-8s. Simply because the product offered on those planes in quite outdated and not attractive for travellers, considering the options available in the middle east region.
Currently RJ fits a 2 class configuration on its Boeing 787s featuring:
- 24 Business class seats in a 2-2-2 layout
- 246 Economy class seats in a standard 3-3-3 layout.
We’ll have to wait for further announcements by the airline to find out which cabin interiors the airline will fit and what they will look like.
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