Royal Brunei Airlines is set to return to Queensland with the launch of services between Brisbane and Brunei from 11 June 2019, after a near eight-year hiatus.
The four weekly flights, operating Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday will bring an additional 62,400 seats into and out of Brisbane Airport (BNE) each year, with a customer-friendly schedule and more choice that will appeal to a wide range of travellers and budgets.
The service was acquired for Queensland through a partnership between Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) and Tourism Events Queensland, with the support of Queensland State Government’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund (AAIF).
“It is great to welcome Royal Brunei Airlines as Brisbane Airport’s 34th international airline and Bandar Seri Begawan as our 33rd international destination,” said Gert-Jan de Graaff, BAC CEO.
“It is also great that new longer-range, narrow-body aircraft such as the A320NEO are now able to make direct flights into Brisbane more viable than ever, an opportunity we are working to expand on in the future,” Mr de Graaff said.
Mr Karam Chand, Royal Brunei Airlines CEO, said: “Royal Brunei is delighted to recommence services to Brisbane, a very popular destination for Bruneians and guests from our expanding route network.
“We have very good connections from United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, East Asia and South East Asia to and from Brisbane. Our guests will experience the very best of Bruneian hospitality flying on our fleet of B787 Dreamliners and A320NEOs, one of the youngest fleets in the world with an average fleet age of two years.
“We offer great value to our Australian guests and exciting destinations such as Brunei, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Ho Chi Minh City, to name a few, which could be packaged as single- or dual-destination holidays.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said securing flights to Brisbane with the international carrier was a win for Queensland.
“This new service will allow us to welcome more tourists from the United Kingdom – Queensland’s third largest international market – connecting via Bandar Seri Begawan, which is a hub for international travellers.”
Acting Tourism Industry Development Minister Di Farmer said the new route was secured through the Palaszczuk Government’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund (AAIF).
Royal Brunei Airline’s network covers a number of South East Asian and East Asian markets, as well as two ports in the Middle East and London Heathrow, increasing access to and from destinations such as Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul, as well as a new one-stop travel option to the UK.
Passengers will enjoy the comfort of Royal Brunei’s A320NEO aircraft offering 12 Business and 138 Economy seats, with the proposed launch schedule (subject to change) currently scheduling the flight’s arrival into Brisbane at 4:45am and departing 5:30pm the same day.