Royal Brunei Airlines-known as RBA in the South East Asian
region-has grown very rapidly since its formation back in 1974, when
it commenced operations with just two Boeing 737-200 aircraft. Today from its hub in Bandar Seri Begawan, (BSB)Brunei’s flag carrier flies to regional destinations
such as Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Singapore, Bangkok, Balikpapan, Jakarta, Bali, Ho Chi Minh City, and
Manila while among international destinations served by RBA
are Dubai, London, Frankfurt, Zurich, Perth, Brisbane and
Calcutta.
Its home airport at Bandar Seri Begawan is modern enough
and has a few facilities including a prayer room, an over
priced restaurant, several duty free shops, telephone and
telex services, and an impressive viewing gallery. It is
not the most exciting spot on earth to have to while
away a couple of hours in.I have had to use this airport
numerous times whilst working for a time in Brunei and
getting flights to Singapore, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and
Kuala Lumpur. Most of my flights on Royal Brunei have been to and
from BSB and regional destinations and another very
popular sector is BSB- Dubai-London.
It is well known in the travel trade that price wise the
Brunei airline is highly competitive and considerably
cheaper than regional rivals such as Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific, although Singapore Airlines in recent years has also emerged as cheaper than some of the other
carriers operating in the SE Asian region. One big snag
I encountered on on one of my flights to Singapore out of
Brunei was being held up for almost 20 minutes because a
business jet of the Brunei Royal Flight was preparing to
take off. The RBA pilot-an expatriate-made it fairly clear
that he was annoyed that a scheduled flight was being held
up.
I have found the in flight service to be good on this airline. The
cabin crew are recruited from the likes of Singapore, Korea, China,
Indonesia and Malaysia, I guess there are also a few but not very many
from Brunei itself.
They are very helpful to passengers and certainly try hard to
make the flights as comfortable as possible. On the
extended range Boeing 757 and 767 that I have flown on
there is a good deal of leg room and the conditions are
not so cramped as they are on some other airlines. The in -
flight entertainment system is good and the in -flight
magazine called Muhibbah, is a really good read. It has,
I believe, won several international awards. On short haul
flights, light meals of a surprisingly good quality are
served to passengers but no alcoholic drinks are currently served
on board, due to Brunei’s strong adherance to
Islamic principles.
Overall based on criteria such as price, in flight service, cabin crew, and
cabin comfort, RBA does not score too badly at all. I have not travelled with them on long haul flights and wonder
what other Mouthshut members who have, think of the service !