Kuwait to drop ORD, Royal Jordanian KHI

[newscaster]

KU will end their KUWAIT-GENEVA-CHICAGO service from November, it was twice weekly with A340.

RJ will end their AMMAN-DUBAI-KARACHI service from June 1st, they were flying twice weekly with A320, downgraded from A310.

[airmemphis]

It's a shame KU couldn't make a sucess out of the KWI-GVA-ORD route. The routing is pretty new as the flights used to go via AMS till late 2004. They hoped the GVA-ORD route would be a success as they were the sole operator (unlike AMS-ORD) but I guess with 2x weekly flights they weren't going to attract the business passengers. But the KU CEO has indicated that new services to JFK are on the cards.

As for RJ quiting KHI, there's no real surprise there. All European airlines have quit KHI in recent years and Egyptair terminated their flights last May. The problem with KHI is that it's a low yield market and with the likes of EK offering high frequency services its difficult to make a success of it.

About RJ, what happened to their plan to operate 7 A340s? They currently have 4 (JY-AIA/B and F-OHLP/Q).

[newscaster]

RJ are replacing their A310 fleet with A321.

[airmemphis]

Yes that was announced mid last year after that fiasco with Boeing and it does seem like a huge drop in capacity if they're replacing the A310s one for one with A321s.

However back to my original questions, do they have plans to aqcuire 3 more A342s? I know there are few (if any) on the second hand market, but aren't SAA disposing of their leased ex-LH A342s?