Jordan announced Sunday the signing of an accord to launch an airline financed by investors in the kingdom and Saudi Arabia to serve the Red Sea resort area of Aqaba.

The new airline, Fly Aqaba, was set up with $20 million in private sector investment, said Nayef Bakhit, president of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, quoted by Jordan's Petra news agency.

Bakhit said it would start operations with two aircraft to serve Aqaba, the ancient archaeological site of Petra and the protected desert wilderness Wadi Rum.

Flights will connect Aqaba to Amman as well as European and other Arab cities "at competitive prices", he said, without giving a date for Air Aqaba's maiden flight.

The Covid-19 pandemic has badly dented Jordan's tourism industry, which represented 14 percent of its GDP.