AMMAN (JT) -- America West Airlines started adding its code (HP) on Royal Jordanian (RJ) flights between the US and Jordan as of yesterday.
Under a code-share agreement for commercial collaboration, signed by the two airlines on Sept. 7, 2004, in the United States, RJ started putting its code on America West flights inside America a month ago, according to a statement released by Royal Jordanian.
This code-share agreement is the first signed by America West with an airline outside the United States.
It came about after an America West specialised team visited Royal Jordanian and verified the accuracy of proceedings, air and ground safety, maintenance, provision of security and air and ground procedures and services, on par with international standards, over and above the nonstop flights RJ operates to the US, using modern aircraft.
The agreement, which received the Department of Transportation authorisation, enables RJ passengers travelling to New York/JFK, Chicago/O'Hare and Detroit to continue their flight with America West to its hubs in Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles. From there, they can also connect to more than 90 America West destinations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica.
The agreement enables passengers of both airlines to avail of connections to more cities across the continent than ever before, the statement said.
Passengers of both airlines can take advantage of additional frequent flyer and lounge access opportunities. Members of RJ and America West programmes can accrue and redeem miles on all scheduled flights operated by either airline.
In addition, code sharing provides passengers with more travel options by allowing one carrier to sell flights on another carrier as its own, by attaching its two-letter booking code to the other carrier's flights listed in worldwide computer reservations systems and online travel sites.
Under the agreement, America West passengers can travel on board RJ from New York, Chicago and Detroit to Amman, then through numerous connecting flights from Amman to cities across the entire Middle East, the Arab Gulf and Far East.
This agreement comes in line with RJ's strategic plan for the coming five years designed to expand its capacity through marketing alliances with international airlines and code-share agreements, the statement said.
Such accords enable the airline to offer better services to more international cities without incurring the expenses of direct flights.
RJ has code-share agreements with several international airlines such as Austrian Airlines, Iberia, Air Canada, Aeroflot, Thai International, Malaysia Airlines, Syrian Airlines, Gulf Air and Cyprus Airways, in addition to America West Airlines, America's second largest low-cost carrier.
The airline, which transports around 20 million passengers yearly on its network that covers 90 destinations in north and south America, has 13,000 employees on its payroll.
Jordan and the United States signed an "open skies" treaty in 1996, the first such treaty for the US with an aviation partner outside of Europe. Under the terms of the treaty, airlines from either country are provided open access and unrestricted capacity and frequency rights to points in both countries.
RJ launches Royal Vacations online in 10 languages.
Meanwhile, RJ launched the Royal Vacations programme on its website www.rja.com.jo at the beginning of this month.
Royal Vacations can be accessed in 10 international languages, thus serving RJ passengers and facilitating hotel bookings, transfers, sightseeing and access to several other tourism services in many countries around the world.
First launched by RJ in December 2003, on the occasion of the airline celebrating its 40th anniversary, Royal Vacations provides a vast array of quality services, of international standards, to tourists and businessmen.
The programme has been added to RJ's wide selection of conveniences which keep the airline in constant development, featuring modern technologies and latest services in the air transport industry.
Royal Vacations is designed to arrange all travel procedures, packages and deals with international hotels, concerning sightseeing, guided tours, car rentals, meals and many more services all at competitive prices.
Passengers who log on to the website and then on to Royal Vacations, can choose from among 19,000 hotels of all star ratings, 2,000 apartments and villas, and more than 1,000 sightseeing tours in over 150 cities in 50 countries worldwide.
Furthermore, advanced security technology has been built into the website to ensure optimum security for credit card transactions, using Secure Socket Layers encryption.
© Jordan Times 2004
