News
Royal Brunei takes delivery of maiden A320neo
June 1st 2018
Royal Brunei has taken delivery of its first of seven on-order A320neo aircraft. Read More » V8-RBA, or MSN8231, was ferried from the Airbus factories in Toulouse to Bandar Seri Begawan via Dubai World Central and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The aircraft is scheduled to enter revenue service on the short Bandar Seri Begawan-Singapore route on June 7. Longer-term, the Royal Brunei A320neo aircraft will also be flying medium-haul routes with a stage length of up to seven hours, including Bandar Seri Begawan to Tokyo or Mumbai.
“The new aircraft also plays an important role in maintaining and enhancing our operational capabilities,” said Royal Brunei CEO, Karam Chand. “The A320neo provides RB with a low-risk option to spearhead its entry into new mid-range markets of up to seven hours flying-time for which we will announce new routes in the coming months.”
The state-controlled carrier expects the remaining six CFM International LEAP 1A-powered A320neo to arrive in the sultanate before year-end. The seven A320neo will replace the airline’s five A320ceo fleet one-for-one, with the additional two aircraft earmarked for growth.
Royal Brunei is fitting the A320neo with 150 seats, comprising 12 business class recliners, 18 economy “preferred” seats and 120 standard economy class seats. The difference between economy “preferred” and standard economy class is an extra two inches in seat pitch, from 30-32in.
The ‘dry airline’ holds options for another three A320neo and has previously said it was considering converting these into orders for the long-range A321LR.
Royal Brunei also has a small long-haul fleet of four B787-8s, with a fifth and final Dreamliner due in the fourth quarter.
Last week, the carrier announced daily nonstop flights to London’s Heathrow Airport from October 28, eliminating a stopover in Dubai and reducing travel time between Brunei and London by 3.5 hours.
The full-service carrier will continue to fly its two-class B787-8s on the London route and will also continue to serve Dubai with the type four times a week. Royal Brunei’s long haul destinations are London, Dubai and Melbourne. Depending on demand, the carrier also flies the B787 on regional routes to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.
