Royal Brunei Airlines has begun a new four-times-weekly service between Brisbane and Brunei, using an Airbus A320 NEO to resume a route it last flew in 2011.
The move makes the Australian city the airline’s newest international destination and incidentally creates a very fast service through to Europe.
Royal Brunei is now offering streamlined connections from Brisbane to London, Dubai, Tokyo, Manila, Jakarta and Seoul. The airline also operates daily Boeing 787 Dreamliner services between Melbourne and Brunei.
Chief executive Karam Chand said the carrier was delighted to add Brisbane to its growing international network.
“Brisbane city becomes our 25th destination opening new tourism gateways in both directions and offering attractive new travel opportunities for Queenslanders and guests from throughout our network,” he said.
Royal Brunei cabin crew Rizal Rasid and Syamimi Wahab greeted passengers at Brisbane International Airport
“In addition to our outbound flights, Queensland is a very popular tourism destination and we are delighted to introduce one-stop inbound services from United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, East Asia and South East Asia to Brisbane,” Chand added.
The inauguration of new Brisbane services follows Royal Brunei’s recent fleet addition of the Airbus A320 NEO type. The new-generation longer-range, single-aisle aircraft is crucial to the airline’s international route expansion plans.
Royal Brunei Airlines will also offer Brisbane customers one of the quickest one-stop flights to London (total flying time 21 hours 50 minutes).
Departing four times weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday) the service will be operated by the airline’s new Airbus A320 NEO aircraft connecting in Brunei to non-stop Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner services to London and Dubai and short-haul flights to Tokyo, Manila Jakarta and Seoul (also operated by the Airbus A320 NEO aircraft type).
Royal Brunei guests. From left: Kylie Lang, Courier Mail; Karam Chand CEO Royal Brunei Airlines; Denise Brown, Brisbane Airport Corporation and Victor Sharan, Royal Brunei Airlines Regional Director Australasia.
In October 2011, Royal Brunei withdrew its services to Brisbane, Perth, Auckland and Ho Chi Minh City as part of a restructuring. The move left Melbourne as the airline’s sole Australasian destination.
Now it’s back to Brisbane and expanding elsewhere as well.
In March, Royal Brunei announced that it had more than doubled the destinations it offers in the UK and Europe, thanks to a new Special Prorate Agreement deal with British Airways, which extends Royal Brunei’s network from 11 to 23 airports in the region.
The agreement connects European hotspots such as Brussels, Rome and Nice to Royal Brunei’s Asia network via London Heathrow. The short-haul routes will be fulfilled by British Airways, which first partnered with Royal Brunei in 2014, to offer domestic connections to popular UK cities such as Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds Bradford.
Royal Brunei Airlines’ fleet is very new – its aircraft have an average age of just two years.
Ribbon cutting ceremony at Brisbane Airport – Royal Brunei CEO Karam Chand, HIs Excellency Mr Zakariah Ahmad High Commissioner for Brunei Darussalam and Jim Parashos, Executive General Manager Aviation Development and Partnerships Brisbane Airport with Royal Brunei cabin crew Rizal Rasid and Syamimi Wahab.
Royal Brunei’s A320 NEO aircraft are configured with 12 Business Class, 18 Preferred Economy and 120 Economy all premium leather ergonomic seats.
Passengers enjoy personal in-seat television with more than 1000 on demand entertainment movies, television and music programs. Every seat has a personal power outlet.
The airline’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft are configured with 18 Business Class fully flat beds, 52 Preferred Economy and 184 Economy seats.
Royal Brunei also offers a generous checked luggage allowance of 30kg for economy class travellers and 40kg for business class in addition to 7kg carry on. Additional complimentary allowances apply for those travelling with sporting equipment such as skiing, angling, surfing, cycling or cricket equipment.
Flight BI10 from Brisbane to Brunei’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan will depart Brisbane International Airport at 4.10pm four times weekly (flying time 7 hours 20 minutes) arriving same day at 9.30pm. Connecting flights to London (connection time 1 hour 25 min) depart Brunei at 10.55pm (flying time 14 hours 50 minutes) arriving at London Heathrow at 6.25am next day.
MEANWHILE, Royal Brunei is reported to be launching codeshare services to several “under-served” cities on Borneo Island in partnership with Malindo Air of Malaysia. The flights, operated by Malindo Air, will initially connect five new and two existing cities across Borneo Island, China’s Xinhua news agency is reporting.
In the recent Skytrax airline rating, Royal Brunei moved up 14 places to be at number 78 (from 92) in the top 100 airlines in the world.
Written by Peter Needham
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