SE Asia-London: Royal Brunei launches new competition

Royal Brunei Airlines has confirmed plans to launch nonstop flights to London following delivery later this year of a fifth 787-8. Royal Brunei has served London since 1990, initially as a two-stop service via Singapore and Dubai and since 2004 as a daily one-stop service via Dubai.

Offering a nonstop product from Bander Seri Begawan to London Heathrow is a major milestone for Royal Brunei which will raise the airline's global profile and improve its position in the Southeast Asia-London and Australia-London markets. The new service will also raise Brunei's profile as a country and could help Brunei meet its objective of doubling visitor numbers over the next four years.

However, the new 14-hour route will pose commercial challenges as Royal Brunei will need to rely heavily on sixth freedom traffic in a handful of extremely competitive city pairs. Royal Brunei is now offering very low fares on its new one-stop Melbourne-London connections.