Royal Brunei Airlines, the carrier of Brunei, will launch operations to India this November. The airline will operate thrice weekly service to Chennai from Brunei, its hub and home airport. Royal Brunei Airlines is the only airline and state owned carrier of Brunei.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the airline will leave Bandar Seri Begawan (IATA: BWN) at 2000 hours local time and arrive in Chennai at 2250 hours local time the same day. The return flight will leave at 2350 hours and reach at 0755 hours at Bandar Seri Begawan the next morning. On Saturdays, the airline will depart from Bandar Seri Begawan at 0030 hours local time, arriving in Chennai at 0320 hours. The return flight departs at 0430 hours, reaching Bandar Seri Begawan at 1225 hours. The airline will deploy the A320 family aircraft. Flights start from November 05, 2024.
This is one of the many routes which airlines discovered during the pandemic. With tourism, trade stabilising and the pandemic all but over, Royal Brunei is taking the next step forward with a scheduled service to Chennai. Royal Brunei is operating a fleet of seven A320neo and five 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft at the moment. The A320s are configured with 12 Business and 138 economy class seats.
Brunei or Brunei Darussalam is one of the three countries on the island of Borneo, which is the largest in Asia. The other two are parts of Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei is a sultanate and Malay is its official language. Brunei has been at the cross road for centuries having had conflicts with Spain, British and Japanese, losing a lot of territory during those periods. Brunei’s economy today is strong due to oil. Bandar Seri Begawan is the only airport serving scheduled commercial services and the hub for Royal Brunei Airlines. Other airlines which operate to Brunei are from the AirAsia group, Singapore Airlines and from the Philippines. It serves the capital and the largest city, primarily. India maintains diplomatic relations with Brunei, since 1984 when the country got independent. India has a high commission in Brunei, while Brunei also maintains a high commission in India. Indian’s and people of Indian origin have been working in Brunei in Oil and Gas, Teaching and other specialised skills. The cultural connection with Tamil Nadu is higher than other parts of the country, justifying Chennai as the choice of destination. Textile and Medical professionals from India are also in demand in Brunei.
Network Thoughts
This is a good addition for Royal Brunei as it adds another spoke to its hub ambitions. While there remain limited points in their network where they can offer good connections ex-Chennai, the objective seems to be more towards the local traffic.
For Chennai, which has seen stagnation of traffic, this new addition is a welcome addition. The flight is similar to the Air Austral flight for which Chennai was the only point of operation in India.
Special Note
There is now an option to pay for a coffee to thank Network Thoughts for the effort that is put into the research needed to present these posts. The site will continue to be free. If you have learnt from Network Thoughts and want to pay a fair price for the content, do reach out via the contact us section or purchase Network Thoughts baggage tags. You can now order Network Thoughts baggage tags !
Follow NetworkThoughts on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube.