Royal Brunei confirms Brisbane services

Friday 18 January 2019:

Kicking off the New Year with great news for Brisbane and Queensland, Royal Brunei Airlines has announced it will return to Queensland with the launch of services between Brisbane and Brunei from 11 June 2019 (Brunei departure).

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 thanks to the partnership between Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) and Tourism Events Queensland, with the support of Queensland State Government’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund (AAIF).

Gert-Jan de Graaff, BAC Chief Executive Officer, said the commencement of Royal Brunei Airlines is another step in the growth of BNE’s ASEAN network which includes the increase to four daily Singapore Airlines services in 2017 and the four times weekly Malaysia Airlines services that commenced in 2018.

“It is great to welcome Royal Brunei Airlines as Brisbane Airport’s 34th international airline and Bandar Seri Begawan as our 33rd international destination.
“Royal Brunei has been a long friend of Brisbane and it is great we will now have further access into the UK and ASEAN.
“Importantly, these new direct links will also expand tourism, business and trade opportunities between Queensland and Brunei.
“It is also great that new longer range narrow-body aircraft such as the A320neo is 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.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said securing flights to Brisbane with the international carrier was a win for Queensland.

“Royal Brunei will fly four times-a-week to Brisbane, which is set to attract up to 30,000 visitors to Queensland and support more than 720 jobs,” the Premier said.
“Improving access to Queensland and securing direct flights from key visitor markets like the UK is vital when it comes to growing our share of the global tourism market.
“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).

“Thanks to this new route, travellers will have another option to pick Brisbane as their entry point to Australia and have easy access to many other iconic Queensland destinations.
“We’re investing more in tourism than any other government in Queensland’s history because we know how important this industry is when it comes to growing our economy.
“Since 2015, the Palaszczuk Government has secured about 2.4 million extra airline seats worth more than $1.8 billion for Queensland.
“We’ll continue to invest in new flights to grow Queensland’s tourism sector.”

Mr Karam Chand, Royal Brunei Airlines Chief Executive Officer, 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/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 fleet 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, Ho Chi Minh City to name a few which could be packaged as single or dual destination holidays.
“Bruneians and the expat community living in Brunei will not only the enjoy many attractions and activities on offer in Brisbane city and its surrounds, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are just over an hour away from the CBD.
“Brisbane is also a gateway to many popular tourism spots in Queensland such as Cairns, Port Douglas, Fraser Island and the Whitsundays,” added Mr Chand.

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/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 having the flight arrive into Brisbane at 4.45am and depart 5.30pm the same day.