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www.arabnews.comThe Jordanian government disclosed plans for privatizing its national carrier, Royal Jordanian (RJ), as of the beginning of the next year.
“The government, in its capacity as the owner of RJ, has decided to start privatization of the company as of the beginning of next year,†the RJ’s Director General and CEO, Samer Majali, told a press conference.
He said that the government would continue to have a 26 percent stake in the privatized firm, while both the country’s public and private sectors would have a controlling interest of 51 percent.
“We are currently in the process of choosing a technical, financial and legal adviser from a number of bidders for evaluating the firm’s assets and overseeing the privatization process,†Majali said.
He pointed out that the firm, which currently has 3,700 employees and 51 stations throughout the world, achieved net profits of 22 million dinars ($31 million) in 2005. However, he indicated that the RJ’s profits in 2006 could go down because of the November 2005 suicide bombings at three Amman hotels that adversely affected tourism in Jordan in the first months of this year. | 
