Aircraft transiting Jordanian airspace rose 80.3 per cent in the first eight months of 2026, according to Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission (CARC) data obtained by Al-Ghad, a jump the regulator attributes largely to a redesign of the Kingdom's flight routes and navigation procedures.
اضافة اعلان
From January to the end of August, 116,051 aircraft crossed Jordanian airspace, against 64,372 in the same period last year, an increase of 51,679.
August was the busiest month, with 25,802 transits compared with 9,230 a year earlier. July recorded 25,142 against 8,675, and June 20,896 against 6,969.
The year's pattern has been uneven. March traffic collapsed to 450 aircraft from 8,048 in March 2025, a fall of 94.4 per cent, and April was down 55 per cent before traffic recovered sharply from May onward. The CARC data as reported does not explain the first-quarter drop.
A four-year redesign
Work on the project to modernise and review air navigation procedures for Jordanian airspace began at the end of 2022, carried out by a national committee of specialists in air navigation, air traffic management and communication and navigation systems. It was completed and formally inaugurated on May 25, 2026, at a cost of more than JD2 million.
The work redesigned arrival and departure procedures around satellite navigation, updated approach procedures at the main airports, and brought the Instrument Landing System on Runway 19 at King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba back into service after years out of use.
Captain Deifallah Al-Farajat, chairman of the CARC board of commissioners, told Al-Ghad the project has delivered operational gains since its approval in May. Simulations indicated a potential 17 per cent reduction in fuel burn and roughly a third more airspace capacity, counting overflights alongside takeoffs and landings. Those figures come from modelling rather than measured performance.
Among the more significant outcomes, Al-Farajat said, was linking Jordan to regional air corridor N134, which connects directly to the European corridor and should cut flight times and fuel consumption for aircraft using it.
The upgrades extended beyond transit routes, Al-Farajat explained, covering takeoff, arrival and approach procedures at all three airports as well as corrections to landing gradients.
What comes next
No further redesign of the airspace is planned for 2026 or 2027, Al-Farajat confirmed. The question will be revisited in about five years, depending on the data available then.
The commission is instead moving to the next phase of the national air navigation plan, which covers wider deployment of distance measuring equipment and a set of projects to modernise surveillance, communications and navigation systems.
Those plans include upgrading the main radar centre, building an emergency radar centre, and modernising navigation aids and instrument landing systems, work Al-Farajat said would improve the category rating of the southern runway at Queen Alia International Airport and the runway at Amman Civil Airport.
A meteorological monitoring project at King Hussein International Airport and Amman Civil Airport is also under way, along with a radar system for precise positioning at King Hussein International, now in its final stages.
Revenue and competition
Mohammad Al-Duwairi, the Ministry of Transport's official spokesperson, told Al-Ghad that around 800 aircraft cross Jordanian airspace daily and that the project has lifted traffic. Higher overflight volumes carry a direct fiscal benefit through navigation fees, Al-Duwairi noted, alongside the wider gain of reinforcing Jordan's position as a regional transit point for international carriers.
The eight-month figures follow an earlier CARC announcement of 42,273 overflights in the first five months of the year, which the commission credited to its air navigation projects.
Captain Yousef Al-Da'aja, an aviation expert, attributed the growth to Jordan's geography, the efficiency of its traffic management, its safety record and sustained investment in navigation infrastructure.
Al-Da'aja told Al-Ghad that shorter routes matter commercially because flight time drives fuel burn, operating cost and airframe life, which makes time a decisive factor when carriers plan routes. Shorter routings also cut carbon emissions and improve punctuality, he added, while safety remains the sector's overriding test.
Holding these gains will require continued investment in navigation systems, technology and controller training as regional competition for traffic intensifies, Al-Da'aja argued.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting by Mahmoud Khader Al-Shaboul.
