Jordan continues to see no LCC influx despite EU Open Skies agreement

Europe's LCCs have been slow to take up the opportunities created by the Dec-2010 Jordan-EU Open Skies agreement, undoubtedly owing to the Arab spring that has dented demand for travel to the country. easyJet was the first European budget carrier to launch scheduled services to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Competitors including Ryanair and Norwegian have not followed suit. This comes with the upside that Jordan's flag carrier Royal Jordanian has been able to maintain its market share in a very adverse environment.

Europe inked a similar agreement with Morocco in Dec-2006 and Europe's LCCs are now overwhelmingly present in the EU to Morocco market. The international LCC market share in Morocco has more than tripled from 12.4% in 2006 to 39.7% in 2011, and no-frills airlines already dominate the market between Western European and Morocco at present. Israel will be the next region to watch with the EU agreeing with the country to expand to it the common aviation market.