Air Jordan (airline)

Air Jordan
IATA code :	AJ
ICAO code :	AJ
Call sign :	AIR JORDAN
Founding:	1950
Operation stopped:	1961
Seat:	Amman , Jordan
Home airport :	Amman-Marka
Fleet size:	8 (early 1961)
Aims:	international
Air Jordan ceased operations in 1961. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

Air Jordan (from 1958 in the Air Jordan of the Holy Land brand ; Arabic طيران الأردن, DMG Ṭayarān al-Urdunn ) was a Jordanian airline based in Amman and based at the local airport Marka . The company ceased operations in 1961.

history

Air Jordan was founded in Amman in July 1950 by the Jordanian entrepreneur HE Ismail Bilbeisi Pasha . Operations began with two Airspeed Consul acquired in September 1950 , which were used on scheduled flights from Amman to Beirut and Jerusalem . Shortly after the establishment, a cooperation developed with the US American Transocean Air Lines , which initially operated a Curtiss C-46 for the company in wet lease and trained the Jordanian crews. With the help of the US partner company, the company started scheduled flights from Amman via Jerusalem to Nicosia in early 1951 . In the summer of 1952 Air Jordan opened a connection between Amman and Cairo , which Transocean Air Lines flew with a Douglas DC-3 on their behalf . At that time, the line network included the destinations Beirut, Jerusalem, Cairo and Nicosia. On the route to Nicosia, Damascus was served as an additional stopover from November 1, 1952. At the same time, the company set up a weekly connection from Amman via Baghdad , Kuwait and Dhahran to Bahrain . From May 1954 Air Jordan marketed its route from Cairo via Amman to Jerusalem as "The Holy Land Route".

In addition to scheduled flight operations, from 1952 Air Jordan also carried out commissioned flights for mineral oil companies to develop oil fields in Libya . For this purpose, additional wet lease aircraft were rented from Transocean Air Lines, which were also used on Hajj flights to Jeddah and to transport US military personnel between Beirut and Jerusalem. As a result of the close cooperation, Transocean Air Lines acquired a 49% stake in the Jordanian company on March 7, 1952.

On November 1, 1958, Air Jordan took over Arab Airways (Jerusalem) Limited, which was set up by BOAC on August 23, 1953 and whose origins go back to Arab Airways, which was founded in Amman in January 1946 . After the merger, the company operated under the name Air Jordan of the Holy Land . Previously, two Convair CV-240s had been put into service in the summer of 1958 , one of which crashed on January 22, 1959 (see below). Another Convair CV-240 was leased to replace the plane that had crashed. In the spring of 1959, the route network departing from Amman included the destinations Aqaba , Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, Dhahran, Jeddah, Jerusalem, Cairo, Kuwait and Nicosia. For October 12, 1959, Air Jordan had planned to start a weekly scheduled service from Amman via Jerusalem to Rome . A Boeing 377 from Transocean Air Lines was to be used, but this could not be provided due to the tense economic situation of the US partner company. On September 12, 1960, Air Jordan took over a Douglas DC-6 from American Airlines for the route to Rome . The company received another DC-6 on December 30, 1960.

In 1961, the Jordanian government decided not to renew the operating certificates of Air Jordan and Jordan International Airlines, which was founded in 1954 , so that both companies had to cease operations on September 13, 1961. At the same time, a new airline was founded on September 1, 1961, Jordan Airways , in which, in addition to private investors, the state of Jordan and the Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) also participated.

fleet

Air Jordan has used the following types of aircraft in the course of its existence:

• Airspeed AS 65 Consul
• Convair CV-240
• Curtiss C-46
• De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide
• De Havilland DH.104 Dove
• Douglas DC-3 (former C-47)
• Douglas DC-4
• Douglas DC-6
• ERCO 415 Aerocoupe
• Piper J-3 Cub

In the spring of 1961 the company's fleet consisted of a Convair CV-240, a Douglas DC-3, two Douglas DC-4, two Douglas DC-6 and two small aircraft of the types ERCO Aerocoupe and Piper Cub.

Incidents

• On October 31, 1950, an Airspeed Consul ( registration TJ-ABA ) was written off as a total loss after a takeoff accident at Qalandia Airport . All six inmates survived the incident.

• On May 1, 1953, a De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide ( TJ-ABJ ) had to be written off as a total loss after a takeoff accident at Marka Airport .

• In October 1957 an Air Jordan Douglas DC-3 was shot at by an Israeli fighter plane near Aqaba . The crew and the 14 passengers were uninjured.

• On January 22, 1959, a Convair CV-240 ( JY-ACB ) crashed about 22 kilometers before the destination airport Amman-Marka near Wadi as-Sir . When attempting to fly from Jerusalem to Amman under the cloud cover, the machine collided with some trees. All four crew members and six of the eleven passengers were killed.

See also

• Former Airlines List (Asia)

Web links

Commons : Air Jordan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jennifer M. Gradidge: The Douglas DC-1 / DC-2 / DC-3: The First Seventy Years, Volume One . Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 2006, ISBN 0-85130-332-3 , p. 194.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Air-Britain, Post-War Civil Airspeed AS.40 Oxfords & AS.65 Consul Conversions (English), accessed on May 27, 2020.
3. ↑ United States Department of Commerce: Foreign Commerce Weekly , Feb. 19, 1951, p. 31
4. ↑ ^{a b} Taloa, History of Transocean Air Lines: Air Djibouti and Air Jordan (English), accessed on May 27, 2020
5. ^ Air Jordan, August 1952 flight plan , accessed May 27, 2020
6. ↑ United States Department of Commerce: Foreign Commerce Weekly , Dec. 8, 1952, p. 29
7. ↑ Air Jordan, May 1954 flight plan , accessed May 27, 2020
8. ^ Civil Aeronautics Board: Civil Aeronautics Board Reports, Volume 23, Economic and Safety Enforcement Cases, January – August 1956 , US Government Printing Office, Washington 1960, p. 446.
9. ↑ Rzjets, Convair CV-240 JY-ACC (English), accessed on May 27, 2020
10. ^ Air Jordan, February 1959 flight plan , accessed May 27, 2020
11. ^ Air Jordan, October 1959 flight plan , accessed May 27, 2020
12. ↑ Planelogger, Douglas DC-6, JY-ACE , accessed May 27, 2020
13. ↑ Planelogger, Douglas DC-6, JY-ACF (English), accessed on May 27, 2020
14. ^ United States Department of Commerce: Foreign Commerce Weekly , Oct. 23, 1961, p. 3
15. ^ REG Davies: Airlines of the Jet Age: A History
16. ↑ Rzjets, Air Jordan fleet list (English), accessed on May 27, 2020.
17. ^ ^{A b} United States Department of Commerce: World Survey of Civil Aviation, Near and Middle East , 1961, p. 15
18. ↑ Ed Coates Civil Aircraft Photograph Collection, Air Jordan TJ-ABJ de Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide c / n 6749 , accessed May 28, 2020
19. ^ Leonard Bridgman (Ed.): Jane's All The World's Aircraft, 1952-53. Sampson Low, Marston & Company, London 1952, p. 21.
20. ↑ accident report Airspeed Consul AS.65 TJ-ABA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on May 27, 2020th
21. ↑ Air-Britain, Malcolm Fillmore: De Havilland DH89 File , 6749 TJ-ABJ , accessed on June 3, 2020
22. ↑ Airways, Transocean Air Lines, Overseas Aid, December 2014 (English), accessed on May 27, 2020.
23. ^ Accident report CV-240 JY-ACB , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on May 27, 2020.