Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) will alter flights times to and from Melbourne Airport after announcing plans to begin daily nonstop flights between Brunei and London effective 28 October 2018. The nonstop flights will see guests enjoying faster journeys with the roundtrip travel time reduced by 3.5 hours to/from Brunei and nearly 5.5 hours to/from Melbourne.
“The introduction of RB’s nonstop flight to London Heathrow will be a significant milestone as for the first time Brunei and England will be seamlessly connected by a direct air link,” Royal Brunei Airlines CEO Karam Chand said.
“With the strong cultural, economic and political ties between the two countries, it is only natural to provide the seamless nonstop connection. The through flight via Dubai has served us well, however, with the demand for more direct routing from our guests, it becomes an important commercial imperative to provide that,” Chand said.
The flight will be operated by Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, with an expected flying time of approximately 14 hours. Chand added that “more product and service innovations will be announced later in the year”.
“The nonstop flights will also be an enabler for increasing tourism from UK and Europe. We have had a record 2017 for visitor arrivals and the initiatives such as the London direct, additional Seoul flights, China charter flights and to-be-announced new markets will play a pivotal role in getting half a million visitors to our shores by 2021,” RB’s CEO added.
With the introduction of the daily nonstop flights to London, RB will cease operating the Dubai-London-Dubai route. Royal Brunei will, however, continue to provide a link to the GCC through Dubai and offer four times weekly Brunei-Dubai-Brunei services, effective 29 October 2018.
RB’s updated schedule for its Melbourne flights will provide better connections within its long-haul route network. These schedules are subject to slot clearances and government approvals.
The amended flight schedules are as follows:
| Flight No. | Sector | Departure | Arrival | Days of Operations |
| BI003 | Brunei to London | 00:15 | 06:50 | Daily |
| BI004 | London to Brunei | 17:05 | 14:40 (+1 day) | Daily |
| Flight No. | Sector | Departure | Arrival | Days of Operations |
| BI005 | Brunei to Melbourne | 19:00 | 05:00 (+1 day) | Daily |
| BI006 | Melbourne to Brunei | 18:40 | 22:40 | Daily |
| Flight No. | Sector | Departure | Arrival | Days of Operations |
| BI007 | Brunei to Dubai | 00:20 | 05:00 | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun |
| BI008 | Dubai to Brunei | 06:00 | 18:00 | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun |