Hello,
Sorry for the delayed reaction in replying to your post. But the answer about the 360 after take off or sometimes even a boxed pattern is for climb restriction going into Isreali airspace.
The A-340-200 as most do know is not a climber, IF your lucky you get 700 feet per minute on a summer day on a loaded flight from amman to JFK DTW 0r ORD.
Upon crossing the Jordanian Isreali Border, on a west bound flight they have to be at 12,000 feet if memory serves me correctly. Queen Alia airport is about 2,800 MSL so that means the A-340 need to gain 10,000 feet before entering Isreali Airspace, hence the 360 turn or the box pattern which adds about 15-20 minutes on the flight.
Also with the climb gradient being so low on the A-340, Royal Jordanian was forced to change the departure time during the summer month from around noonish back to 8 or 9 am on the AMM-US flight. That way the take off was done before desert temps. soared to the mid 30-40 degress C, combined with the 2800 MSL feild altitude, the result was real high density alititude and such high performace hits on take off and climb, that the only solutions would be to fly a half empty A-340 to keep the weights down, or try to get the wheels off the ground before 9:00 am when the temps where still relativly low.
Hope that sheds some light.
-T