The Jordanian government will start privatization procedure of the Royal Jordanian (RJ) air carrier at the beginning of next year, the airline's CEO Samer al-Majali announced on Wednesday.

During a press conference in Amman, Majali said the government will spend 12 months in reducing its ownership of the company from 100 percent down to 21 percent.

RJ will remain the flag carrier after privatization and its managerial staff and employees will remain Jordanians, he added.

According to the Jordan's Petra news agency, RJ posted 17 million Jordanian Dinars (about 24 million U.S. dollars) net profits in 2004 and 31 million dollars in 2005.

Since its establishment in 1963, the number of RJ's employees rose from 250 to 3,700 and the number of terminals went up from 4 to the current 51.