Aqaba draws up plans for private  airline, specialised medical centre

AMMAN — President of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Nayef Bakhit said on Tuesday that the launch of a private Aqaba airline (Fly Aqaba) will be announced soon.

 The airline will link Aqaba with Arab and foreign cities and will contribute to attracting tourists to Jordan and Aqaba in particular, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Bakhit noted that Aqaba received around 1,400,000 international tourists in 2019, in addition to thousands of local tourists.

He also unveiled plans for a large garment factory that will provide “thousands of jobs” for local residents, as part of an agreement to be signed soon.

He added that Aqaba will soon commence three hotel projects on the southern beach, bringing the number of hotel rooms in Aqaba to 12,000, according to the ASEZA’s 2025 plan.

Agreements and understandings for other investment projects are under way, the most important of which is the establishment of a specialised medical centre for cancer treatment in Aqaba by a Jordanian expatriate investor, who is a distinguished surgeon and works in Europe, according to the ASEZA president.

Bakhit added that the centre will be technologically advanced and equipped with high medical competencies, which will contribute to attracting medical tourists from all around the world.