HALONG BAY, 21 January 2019: As Brunei prepares to host the ASEAN Tourism Forum in 2020, the country national airline plans to resume flights to Brisbane Australia.
On the sidelines of the ASEAN Tourism Forum’s TRAVEX trade show, Royal Brunei confirmed it would resume service to Brisbane effective 11 June, this year.
It stopped flying the route in October 2011, after 14 years when it was forced to rethinks international routes in the face of declining revenue.
However, the airline maintained a service to Melbourne Australia that remains popular. The service connects with a flight from Brunei to the UK allowing the airline to sell tickets on the Australia-UK route.
In the latest timetable information the national airline, which has its home base in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, will once more serve Brisbane using an A320.
It will offer four weekly flights departing Brunei on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
At the end of December 2018, Royal Brunei Airlines launched flights between Bandar Seri Begawan and Kuching, Malaysia, bringing to a close a six-year absence on the route. It offers a twice-weekly service on Mondays and Fridays, but by 3 February it will add two more flights (Thursdays and Sundays) using a 150-seat A320.
Earlier in December, the airline added services to Taiwan’s Taipei Taoyuan airport 3 December.
The airline intends to boost services to China, but it has deferred the launch of its Brunei-Changsha route until 2 April.
Meanwhile the airline confirmed, effective 31 March as the summer timetable starts, it would upgrade three of its daily services to Hong Kong to the larger Boeing 787-8 replacing the smaller A320s.
The Dreamliner will be used on the route on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Royal Brunei Airlines’ network covers destinations in Asia, Dubai, Jeddah in the Middle East and London Heathrow.
A fleet of five Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft serve international flights mainly outside of Southeast Asia. It also operates A320s.
RBA officials confirmed the airline would be offering discounted fares to boost attendance at the ATF 2020 and would play a vital role in flying in hosted buyers and media for the annual show.
