After a long hiatus, Royal Jordanian, a Jordan-based boutique airline is all set to launch two direct routes connecting Mumbai and Delhi in India to Amman, the capital of Jordan.

The move aims to establish Jordan as a premier destination for Indian travellers and for the airline to capitalise on the growing Indian tourism market.

In an exclusive interview with India Outbound, Karime Makhlouf, Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Jordanian Airlines talks about the overall marketing strategy of the airline to promote its product in India, the diverse offerings of Jordan as a premiere destination and the airline’s ambitious plans with respect to the Indian market.

Karime Makhlouf

What is your expectation from the flights to Mumbai and Delhi? Is there a reason for the gap between the two launches?

My expectations are very high. We are starting with four weekly flights on April 16 from Mumbai and on September 16 from New Delhi. Going to daily flights hopefully by next year but we are starting with four times a week for the beginning.

The reason for the gap between the two launches is because of the reception of our new aircraft. We had a few delays with Airbus unfortunately as many airlines are suffering right now.

That is why our brand-new aircraft which will be used, the A320neo for the Indian routes is just sequenced as such.

So, my expectations are very high to position Jordan as a fantastic new option for Indians to fly to within five hours and to have a truly contemporary Arabian experience.

Which segments of the market are you catering to in India with these flights?

Every segment. So, be it MICE, be it Indian weddings, or families. We have a lot to offer.

I purposely designed a new brand called Explore Jordan with RJ in the middle in line with our tourism strategy which is based on nine different pillars aimed to have a nice activity for every segment.

Be it culinary tourism, we are a very vegetarian friendly cuisine, the Jordanian or Levant cuisine. The starters have a lot of vegetarian ingredients which is important for the Indian market.

We have two winemakers which for sure nobody in India knew where it is fascinating to do a vineyard tour and have such experience which you do not associate typically with the Arab world. We have fine dining in Amman up to street food. Then we have the topic of art and lifestyle. Jordan is truly authentic Arabian. So, we have 20 art galleries with a lot of artists in Jordan but as well from the region such as Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians. So, I would consider Amman even as the art capital of the Middle East but truly Arabian as such. We have adventure, people who are interested in adventure.

We have the Jordan Trail which is a 650 km hiking track which is probably the most interesting hiking in the Arab world because it starts in the north, mountain greenery area. It passes the lowest point on earth which is the Dead Sea and goes to Aqaba which has access to the Red Sea. So, cool stuff for adventure passing even to historical sites.

Of course, we have Petra, which is one of the seven wonders in the world. It is just amazing as such. We have as well Wadi Rum which is a fascinating desert and more than 150 Hollywood movies, international movies have been shot in Wadi Rum.

What we do now is we are trying to get Bollywood as well more fascinated to shoot there. Six months ago, we had a charter for a Bollywood producer and we are very much in talks now with Bollywood here to have more movies shot there.

So, in other words, there is a huge variety which is perfect for the Indian market because it is just five hours away.

Are you looking at other Indian cities also as source for these flights?

I think Mumbai and Delhi is the best right now because we have interline deals with some Indian operators.

So, in principle, we are covering whole India through our partnership with Air India as such and with other operators which we are negotiating right now. So, people can easily travel through New Delhi and through Mumbai to Amman.

Both New Delhi and Mumbai are very strong hubs in order to bring tourism into Jordan because that is the main difference to other airlines. Especially from the Gulf and Middle East who are flying here who are more interested in network traffic, like India-Europe or India-United States. Our aim is primarily to get Indian tourists into Jordan.

What would be your strategy to penetrate the market and reclaim the share that you have lost since you stopped flying to India?

Strategy is very clear. We focus on tour operators, we focus on Online Travel Agents and we focus on influencers and travel bloggers to promote the country.

RJ is a great airline. We are a nice boutique airline but for me, Jordan is more important. I want the market to know as much as they know about Royal Jordanian as well as about the country.

I am an airline executive who talks a lot about the country, in line with my tour operators and tourism strategy.

How would you promote the product in the market?

We are planning a lot of trips which are customised for different travel bloggers and influencers. We will have a lot of FAM trips as well for tour operators and we have customised pricing for tour operators.

So, I have a lot of FIT fares in combination with the package. In addition, Jordan is a visa on arrival country which is perfect for Indians and if you book your package, the visa is for free. You do not pay for the visa. So, these are some of the things which we are now promoting through the market.