It is a matter of fact that Nigeria is growing at an exponential rate, and it has just been announced that the country has become the continent's largest economy. Royal Jordanian should be able to find a decent market in there, and our connectivity in the region is unparalleled. However, it is unfortunate that the passenger load in our airline is not high enough to maintain an A330 profitable operation. Royal Jordanian has decided to operate the route on more profitable equipment. Therefore, once again it is the A320 to the rescue.
My outfit has a fleet of A320 family A/C that can fill the role, however, our A320s are not ETOPS approved, which simply means we should have an acceptable airport within one hour of our route at all times. Unfortunately, our route is mainly over underdeveloped airports, and the only approach in there is built on GPS. Also the flight is a tad longer than 6 hours, which is much of a stretch for our machine! Remember, the A320 was designed for a maximum range of around 2000 NM (Nautical Miles) and the route we intend to fly is 2,600 NM. Add to it the wind and our Air Distance is around 3000 NM.
The way to get that is by lightening the aircraft up and we did just that. I was lucky enough to be part of the first crew to operate the A320 to Lagos. What we did to prepare for the flight for previous months is significant. Whether it was the GPS signal prediction software, or the re-scheduling of the flight to allow for a daylight operation or the contacts our staff made to make sure we have the weather. Whatever it was, we beat it to the bush and when I came back from the flight, I was proud to report that we made it work.
Around 6:30 of flight time and 7:00 hours of block time later and we got there. Royal Jordanian now has a scheduled operation to Lagos on the A320 and I'm proud to have played a part in it.
My outfit has a fleet of A320 family A/C that can fill the role, however, our A320s are not ETOPS approved, which simply means we should have an acceptable airport within one hour of our route at all times. Unfortunately, our route is mainly over underdeveloped airports, and the only approach in there is built on GPS. Also the flight is a tad longer than 6 hours, which is much of a stretch for our machine! Remember, the A320 was designed for a maximum range of around 2000 NM (Nautical Miles) and the route we intend to fly is 2,600 NM. Add to it the wind and our Air Distance is around 3000 NM.
Around 6:30 of flight time and 7:00 hours of block time later and we got there. Royal Jordanian now has a scheduled operation to Lagos on the A320 and I'm proud to have played a part in it.
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