Time Traveller

Hussein Dabbas
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With 30 years experience at Royal Jordanian under his belt, you would think that Hussein Dabbas would be oozing confidence in his new position as president and CEO. Having worked in nearly every department at RJ since joining the airline in 1979, he was the obvious choice to take over from current Gulf Air chief, Samer Majali. The handover took place in June this year and at the time, Dabbas saw the job offer as a great opportunity, but fast forward five months and he remains realistic as to the challenges that lie ahead.

“It was my luck to have been chosen by the board, but I believe I am taking over during very difficult times; difficult times for the entire airline industry. I need to work very hard to adapt the business to withstand the economic challenges we face.”

Despite his anxieties, Dabbas is well-prepared to deal with any unexpected surprises. In 2002, he was part of the team that built the airline’s current strategy; low-cost, high yield routes that have established the airline’s form of travel we are familiar with today.

“We focus on a three-pronged approach – the home market, the support market and the external market. Home is the Levant; Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and this is the core of the operation.” Back then, RJ changed the whole concept of air travel in the region by offering multi-frequencies – small airplanes covering small airports – “this is why we opted to get the Embraer aircraft added to our fleet,” Dabbas explains. “Back then, multi-frequency routes were almost unheard of in the Middle East, but by increasing frequencies we generated new business, and continue to do so today.”

The airline now operates multi-frequency routes to destinations such as Beirut, Dubai, Alexandria and Sharm El Sheikh, but it is by operating services to Iraq where it has established itself as the market leader.

In 1970, RJ’s inaugural flight to Baghdad left its home base at Queen Alia International Airport.

Since then, it has launched scheduled services to three additional Iraq destinations; Basra, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, and the airline is busy conducting market research to begin operations to Musel.

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But 2009 has been a year for rival airlines to re-enter the Iraqi market. Ironically it has been Gulf Air, under Majali’s leadership, that has implemented the most aggressive re-entry programme into the country. To date, the Bahrain-based carrier has launched flights to three Iraq cities in as many months, and two more destinations are expected to be announced before the end of the year. So is Dabbas worried by his former boss’s latest moves?

“Look, it helps the market to grow when new airlines enter markets. It is part of the business. It makes life more difficult, but keeps us on our toes.”

He is also quick to point out that RJ maintained its services to Iraq when other airlines were swiftly exiting the market. “If you don’t take risks then you don’t do business. It was an expensive risk. At the beginning, we were not even allowed to operate our own planes, so we had to wet-lease planes to operate. This was during the times when the Iraq operation was very foggy and we didn’t know how secure the passengers would really be.”

But all that has changed and RJ has been instrumental in establishing Iraq as a key destination. “We used Jordan as a gateway to the country and brought about a major transformation in the quality of services, timings and rates,” Dabbas explains.

IBA Group aviation expert Usman Ahmed says the airline should continue on this path.

“By connecting local and regional destinations it can tap into both the transit and tourism market.

“Royal Jordanian has one distinct advantage; that it can save passengers up to two hours by transiting through Amman.”

But, while Iraq remains of importance to RJ’s business, its new CEO is currently scrutinising other segments of the company too.

In 2004, RJ began to make a profit. Under Majali’s leadership the airline had been privatised and the good times were to continue until 2007. But 12 months later, the airline incurred a net loss of JD3.8 million (US$5.4 million) due to its fuel hedging policy.

“Last year, most airlines took a slap from their fuel hedging policies,” Dabbas explains. “All indications were it would rise to $200 barrel, but when it was $145 we were all running around like headless chickens trying to find solutions.