Queen Alia International Airport (IATA: AMM,ICAO: OJAI) (Arabic: مطار الملكة علياء الدولي; transliterated: Matar Al-Malikah Alia Ad-Dowali) is Jordan’s main and largest airport and is located in Zizya 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the capital city,Amman. Named after Queen Alia, third wife to the late King Hussein of Jordan, the airport is home to the country’s national flag carrier, Royal Jordanian Airlines and serves as a major hub for Jordan Aviation, Royal Falcon and Royal Wings.
A state-of-the-art new terminal was inaugurated in March 2013 to replace the airport’s older two passenger terminals and one cargo terminal.The three original terminals were made obsolete once the new terminal officially began operations. In 2014, the new airport received the “Best Improvement by Region: Middle East” and “Best Airport by Region: Middle East” awards by the Airport Council International, the awards are given to the airports which achieved the highest customer satisfaction in the ASQ Survey.
Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) was built in 1983 in response to the growing airport traffic needs that Amman Civil Airport could not accommodate. At the time, passenger traffic was increasing above the international average, recording 25–30% growth per annum and placing considerable pressure on airport facilities despite continuous expansion and development. In 1981, the number of arriving, departing and transit passengers exceeded 2.3 million, while cargo traffic reached 62,000 tons and aircraft traffic topped 27,000 movements.
The Jordanian Ministry of Transport undertook to build a new international airport with sufficient capacity to cope with demand in the foreseeable future. QAIA was built at an estimated total cost of JOD 84 million. Passenger facilities were designed to serve 3.5 million passengers per annum.
QAIA has since grown to become the kingdom’s primary international gateway and a stop-over for international airlines in the Middle East. By 2012, QAIA was serving on average more than 6 million passengers and 40 airlines from around the world.
