US embassy cable - 03AMMAN8299

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 008299 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CPA FOR TRENT/WILLIS/WAYNE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2008 
TAGS: EAIR, PREL, PINR, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: RESUMPTION OF JORDANIAN BAGHDAD FLIGHTS DELAYED 
 
REF: AMMAN 7647 
 
Classified By: DCM David Hale, Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  Almost four weeks after suspending daily 
Amman-Baghdad passenger flights following a November 22 
MANPADS strike on a DHL cargo aircraft, Royal Jordanian (RJ) 
has informed us that they are hoping to resume flights 
December 19, pending confirmation of insurance coverage and 
approval of the Jordanian Government.  Royal Jordanian had 
been planning to resume the service with an Iraqi-owned 
Boeing 737 wet-leased to RJ, but is now looking at continuing 
to work with DeHavilland Dash 8 turboprops owned by its Royal 
Wings subsidiary.  GOJ approval apparently requires further 
internal assessment of threat information that was developed 
by a Jordanian intelligence agency, which seems unlikely by 
December 19.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C)  RJ tells us that it is prepared to resume Royal Wings 
passenger flights to and from Baghdad as soon as Friday, 
December 19, pending final resolution of insurance issues and 
approval of the government of Jordan.  While RJ officials 
believe the insurance issues will be resolved quickly, GOJ 
approval -- which has been withheld due to Jordanian concerns 
over the threat to Jordanian aviation in Iraq --has not been 
forthcoming as of Thursday, December 18.  According to RJ CEO 
Samer Majali, the Government of Jordan believes it has 
intelligence information of a specific threat to the Royal 
Wings flight.  The government is currently analyzing the 
information. 
 
3.  (C)  Majali also tells us that at the request of CPA 
officials, the airline has dropped a plan to operate a 737 
owned by the Jordan-based Iraqi Khawam family that would be 
leased to RJ but operated under an Iraqi flag (see reftel). 
This means that when and if flights resume, it will be with a 
42-seat DASH-8 turboprop owned by Royal Wings, an RJ 
subsidiary.  Flights should continue to fly out of Amman's 
Marka airport. 
 
4.  (C)  Resumption of flights has been delayed by a series 
of obstacles.  The initial suspension of flights was 
announced November 23, pending a security assessment of the 
perimeter of Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) following 
the attack on a DHL cargo jet.  When the assessment found 
that the nature of the attack was more worrying than had 
initially been thought, flights were further suspended while 
the U.S. military upgraded its presence around BIAP. 
Negotiations with insurers caused a further delay, followed 
by a dispute with the lessor of the DASH-8 that RJ was 
flying.  Once these issues had been resolved, RJ received the 
request from GOJ not to fly for security reasons.  Insurance 
again became an issue after a C-17 was hit by a SAM outside 
of BIAP on December 10. 
 
5.  (C)  COMMENT:  Both RJ's CEO Samer Majali and Ghassan 
Ali, RJ's Vice President and chief negotiator, were decidedly 
unenthusiastic about the prospect of working with the 
Khawams, which they had agreed to do only under pressure from 
Iraqi Transportation Minister Boulos.  RJ apparently feared 
that once flights were renewed using a Khawam airplane, the 
Khawams would then move to muscle RJ off the route. 
Jordanian intelligence agencies are continuing to assess the 
information developed about a threat to the flight.  It is 
not clear how long this process (which is also being 
discussed in intelligence channels) will take, but resumption 
of information on December 19 seems highly unlikely. 
GNEHM