Royal Jordanian (RJ) will operate its first flight to Najaf on July 13, launching a new regular service between Jordan and Iraq.
With this addition to the RJ network, there are now six Iraqi destinations on the RJ network, including Mosul, which has been suspended since June 2014. The number of flights between Jordan and Iraq is now 31 weekly, including 12 weekly flights to Baghdad, nine to Erbil and four weekly flights to each of Basra and Sulaymaniyah, in addition to the two halted flights to Mosul.
RJ will operate two weekly flights to Najaf, on Mondays and Thursdays. On Mondays the flight takes off from its base at Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, at 11 am and reaches Najaf at 12:35 noon. The return flight departs from there at 1:20pm and lands in Amman at 3:05pm.
On Thursdays RJ operates its flights from Amman at 2:10 am and reaches Najaf at 3:45 am, then takes off from Najaf at 5:25 am and arrives in Amman at 7:15 am.
Adding Najaf to the RJ routes comes in sync with the airline strategy to enter new markets in the Arab region. RJ will also operate a new service to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia in addition to existing destinations Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Medina.
The service between Najaf and Amman will serve Iraqi passengers transiting though Queen Alia International Airport on their way to destinations beyond Amman, particularly if they are pilgrims on Hajj and umrah.