Airport International Group Welcomes Afriqiyah Airways First Flight to Queen Alia International Airport

Airport International Group (AIG), the Jordanian consortium responsible for the rehabilitation, expansion, and operation of the Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA), recently welcomed the first flight from Afriqiyah Airways to Amman from Libya. The flight arrived at the QAIA on Tuesday, May 22nd, at 12:30pm. Afriqiyah Airways will operate four roundtrip flights per week; twice weekly roundtrip Tripoli to Amman flights, and twice weekly roundtrip Benghazi to Amman flights.

“We are delighted to welcome the first flight from Afriqiyah Airways,” commented Nicolas Claude, COO of AIG. “With the introduction of a new Libyan airline to Amman, we are looking forward to an increase in total passenger traffic. The addition of Afriqiyah Airways to the QAIA network supports our objective of further enhancing service levels between Jordan and the major population centers in the Middle East, North Africa region.”

“We are delighted with the inauguration of Afriqiyah flights to Jordan,” commented  by Capt. Abdelhadi S. Lawgili member of stearing committee and head of Afriqiyah delegation “The Kingdom is a key regional hub and a unique tourism and investment destination. We would like to express our appreciation to Airport International Group for the warm welcome today, and we look forward to strengthening our ties and increasing our flights to Jordan.”

Upon landing at the QAIA, the aircraft was welcomed with a water arch by the airport's civil defense firefighting unit. Afterwards, airport officials welcomed the disembarking passengers and VIP guests on board, senior management from AIG and officials from the Libyan embassy a and the GSA of Afriqiyah Airways in Amman Maltrans Travel & Tourism Co. were present to give remarks celebrating the inaugural flight.

Over the last several years, the airport has experienced continuous growth in passenger traffic, with 2011 marking a new high of 5.5 million travelers. Recognizing that the growth has put strains on the current facilities – the current airport capacity is a mere 3.5 million passengers annually - AIG has spent US $100 million on rehabilitating the existing terminals. In addition to that, flights using the airport have grown more than a third to reach over 1220 per week, while the number of airlines has risen to 44, from 28 in 2007.

AIG is also investing US $750 to construct a landmark new terminal which will be a significant contribution to the development of QAIA to become a regional niche hub and a source of pride for all Jordanians. The new state-of-the-art terminal will further enhance and develop the Jordanian aviation sector and will drastically increase the airport capacity to 9 million passengers annually, with future expansion to 12 million passengers annually.  .