US embassy cable - 03AMMAN3654

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003654 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
PLEASE PASS TO SECRETARY'S PARTY 
USDOC 4520/ITA/MAC/ONE/PTHANOS 
DEPARTMENT FOR E FOR LARSON 
DEPARTMENT FOR EB FOR WAYNE 
ATHENS FOR TSA FOR MONTGOMERY 
FRANKFURT FOR TSA FOR HARRIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR, ETRD, JO 
SUBJECT: BAD NEWS FOR RJ 
 
REF: A) STATE 162415 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Ambassador Gnehm followed up with Royal 
Jordanian Airlines (RJ) CEO Majali on recent Transportation 
Security Administration (TSA) visits and meetings in 
Washington between RJ officials and DAS John Byerly.  The 
Ambassador stressed to Majali the importance of taking 
seriously TSA guidance and directives, the need to decouple 
RJ's prospective purchase of Boeing jets from bidding on 
service rights to Baghdad, and the likelihood that any 
decision on the composition of Iraqi Air will have to wait 
for an interim Iraqi government.  END SUMMARY 
 
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TSA: STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT 
 
SIPDIS 
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2.  (SBU) Ambassador Gnehm, accompanied by Econoff, called on 
Royal Jordanian Airlines (RJ) CEO Samer Majali on June 16. 
The Ambassador took advantage of the meeting to reinforce the 
strong messages on security and cooperation with TSA that 
were delivered to RJ by visiting TSA officials in Amman in 
early June and in Majali's recent meetings in Washington 
(ref).  He stressed the need for RJ to take TSA directives 
seriously and to implement them as quickly as possible. 
Majali said that he had received a letter from Minister of 
Transport Dahabi stating that RJ was "basically not in 
compliance" with TSA policy and that the airline needed to 
fulfill TSA directives according to deadlines agreed during 
the visit. 
 
4.  (SBU) Majali, however, said "TSA did not take proper 
minutes or give us a report telling us how we are expected to 
comply."  Noting that the Minister's letter (which had been 
prepared by Civil Aviation Authority staff) served this 
purpose by clearly outlining four important deadlines agreed 
to by RJ and the TSA, the Ambassador told Majali that RJ's 
credibility was on the line.  It was critical that all RJ and 
other security staff take TSA's requirements extremely 
seriously.  He said it was important that RJ and TSA maintain 
frank and open channels of communication through which they 
could address each others' concerns. 
 
5.  (SBU)  The Ambassador stressed that TSA has the final 
word on whether or not RJ is in compliance with U.S. 
regulations and thus able to continue to fly to the U.S.  If 
TSA decided to suspend RJ flights to the U.S., no one in the 
 
SIPDIS 
U.S. Government would or could overrule them.  Majali replied 
that all deadlines would be met, and added that the airline 
was appointing one person to be responsible for all safety 
and security issues. 
 
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IRAQ-BOEING LINKAGE: A MISTAKE 
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6.  (SBU) Also following up on reftel conversation, the 
Ambassador told Majali that he had made a mistake in seeking 
to link RJ's initiative on helping establish air service in 
Iraq to its decision between Boeing and Airbus for RJ's 
acquisition of new short-term jets.  Majali called this  a 
"misunderstanding" of RJ's intent.  His point was that the 
economic advantage of RJ expanding its activities to Iraq 
would help offset what he said was the $25 million additional 
cost of 737's versus A320s.  Since he assumed that any Iraqi 
airline would go with Boeing, this could also lead to 
"greater commonality" with RJ.  The Ambassador advised Majali 
to separate the jet purchase from service to Baghdad since 
decisions on Iraq's civil aviation regime could be a long 
time coming. 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (SBU)  Comment:  The DCM had previously covered similar 
ground on the security issues with Transportation Minister 
Nader Dahabi and CAA Director General Hanna Najjar.  We 
believe the airline and the government have got the message 
that TSA is serious and that they can not afford to waste 
Jordan's good reputation on security issues. 
 
8.  (SBU)  The Jordanians clearly made a serious tactical 
mistake in allowing the perception to persist that they are 
linking a decision on aircraft replacement to their 
initiative on Iraq.  Disturbingly, we understand that Majali 
continued to pursue this tack in a meeting with Boeing CEO 
Phil Condit this week in Paris.  Condit and senior Boeing 
executives will be in Jordan over the weekend for the World 
Economic Forum meeting at the Dead Sea, where they will 
undoubtedly meet senior Jordanians including the King.  We 
will convey this message to others in the decision-making 
chain on the aircraft decision.  Senior U.S. officials who 
are here for the WEF meetings, including Secretary Powell and 
U/S Larson, may also wish to reinforce that now is the time 
to make a decision and that Boeing is the most qualified 
provider. 
GNEHM