Royal Jordanian is currently undergoing a major expansion, and is also investing a lot in its new passenger experience. This is supposed to include the introduction of a new long haul business class.
Along those lines, we just got a pretty good clue of what we can expect from the Amman-based oneworld carrier’s new premium experience onboard its wide body aircraft.
In this post:
Royal Jordanian plans new 787 passenger experience
Royal Jordanian’s wide body fleet currently consists of seven Boeing 787-8s. On top of that, the airline has six Boeing 787-9s on order, which will essentially double the carrier’s long haul capacity. This is only one aspect of the carrier’s fleet renewal plan, as the airline is also acquiring new jets from Airbus and Embraer.
Royal Jordanian’s 787-8 passenger experience is pretty lackluster. The airline doesn’t have Wi-Fi on these aircraft, and on top of that, business class consists of Collins Aerospace Diamond seats, in a 2-2-2 configuration. Given some of the long missions the airline flies, that’s not exactly a cutting edge product.
Fortunately all of this is expected to change. Not only will Royal Jordanian introduce a new passenger experience on its newly delivered 787-9s, but the plan is to then bring the 787-8s up to the same standard, through a retrofit program.
I’ve been curious what business class product the airline would select. While nothing has officially been announced, we now have a clue…
Is Royal Jordanian introducing reverse herringbone seats?
AeroRoutes flags how Royal Jordanian has tentatively listed the 787-9 for some flights starting later this year, and that includes loading the seat map. Based on that, it would appear that the airline plans to offer a total of 309 seats on these aircraft, including 31 business class seats and 278 economy class seats.
What can we expect, more specifically? From looking at the business class seat map, the airline appears to be planning a 1-2-1 layout, with seats arranged the same way in each row (in other words, it’s not a staggered layout).
So while I could be wrong, that certainly suggests that a reverse herringbone seat is the most likely product that Royal Jordanian has selected. I would guess Royal Jordanian will stick with Collins Aerospace, since that’s the seating manufacturer that the airline has historically worked with on the 787, and there is some amount of loyalty when it comes to that.
The question is, which Collins Aerospace reverse herringbone seat will the airline select?
Will the airline just introduce the standard Super Diamond seat, like in EgyptAir’s 787 business class?
Or will the airline introduce that product, but slap a door on it, like in Etihad’s A350 business class?
Or will Royal Jordanian go with the latest Collins Aerospace reverse herringbone seat, which is the Elements product, like in Starlux’s A350 business class?
If you’re going to introduce a new business class product, you’d hope you’d go with the latest seat that has all the bells and whistles, which would be the Elements product.
However, I’m not terribly confident that will happen. I think it’s more likely the airline will just go with the most standard version of the Super Diamond seat, perhaps with a door. I certainly could be wrong. Either way, it should be a massive improvement over what’s currently offered.
Bottom line
Royal Jordanian is planning a major modernization. The airline is taking delivery of lots of new planes, including Boeing 787-9s. We can expect the airline to introduce a new business class product throughout its Dreamliner fleet.
While nothing official has been announced, it sure seems like a reverse herringbone seat is what the airline is going with, based on the seat map for the first 787-9 flights that have been loaded. We should learn more soon.
What are you expecting from Royal Jordanian’s new 787 business class?
Interesting map.
Note that the map does not show a seat 8G. Quite unusual.
I predict that seat 8G will be present but not bookable. I've flown the current 787 configuration several times on RJ264 ORD-AMM, and the aisle seat last row of business is present but not bookable.
Moments before boarding, an earnest gentleman always boards and takes the seat. Always serious looking individuals, keep to themselves.
He never drinks or sleeps for the...
Interesting map.
Note that the map does not show a seat 8G. Quite unusual.
I predict that seat 8G will be present but not bookable. I've flown the current 787 configuration several times on RJ264 ORD-AMM, and the aisle seat last row of business is present but not bookable.
Moments before boarding, an earnest gentleman always boards and takes the seat. Always serious looking individuals, keep to themselves.
He never drinks or sleeps for the entire 11:40 flight.
Air marshal, I assume.
What flights are you seeing the new seat map on?
@ Nobody -- It's just some one-off flights for now, which you can find at the AeroRoutes link in the post. It includes the following:
Amman – Bangkok Suvarnabhumi 21MAR26
Amman – Istanbul 12FEB26, 15FEB26, 23MAR26
Amman – Paris Charles de Gaulle 01FEB26 – 09FEB26 Day 147
I just flew RJ from JFK to AMM and it wasn't bad as I expected. While the seats were open, when your sleeping all is good. The food was some of the best in the sky as it was served family style from a trolley. And you pick what you want. An for 70,000 miles it was a deal. I would fly them again.
Ben, have you read the news on Aeroflot’s IT being hacked and all OPS grounded?
I did. Love it.
Off-topic comment related to Royal Jordanian and One World. Administratively, it would be easier for airlines to piggy-back on a single point currency. For those in Europe and the Middle East, Avios. (For SkyTeam, it would be Flying Blue.)
That sounds like a nightmare
What is it about being able to freely transfer Avios between BA, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Finnair, and Qatar don't you like? Have you ever tried to book partber awards on some of these these airlines?
Compare the costs and fees of Avios programs to Alaska and AA miles, and you'll understand why. 60k AA miles to Asia vs 95k Avios on Finnair.
If all award programs are consolidated, the same way airlines have, they can collude and all simultaneously increases prices, throttle availability, etc.
And you have no choice because all airlines will be on the same currency.
I expect that people will just take advantage of the next Royal Jordanian status match promo and forget the airline ever exist after they get their Oneworld benefits
Ben, I'm not sure if you've discussed this in the past, but are you still firm on your stance of never flying RJ again?
I just (re)read the trip report about your worst flight ever, so I was wondering :)
@ Dror -- Nah, I'll give the airline another try. I've actually flown Royal Jordanian since then. I was terrified, but time heals all...
"What are you expecting from Royal Jordanian’s new 787 business class?"
Well it'd be nice to get an unbiased review from you as always ;)
This is not a review. This is covering a potential update. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting your comment but I don't see any bias per se. Only an expression of Ben's preference for a most-up-to-date seat.
It was meant to be a joke ;)
Thanks for the clarification. Happy and safe travels.