ROYAL Brunei Airlines (RBA) will deploy its first Boeing 787 Dreamliners on services to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – albeit for a limited period – making it the first airline in South-east Asia to induct the game-changing Dreamliner into its fleet.
Following the delivery of its first Dreamliner in late September, RBA will deploy it on the Singapore route from October 19, beginning with 12 weekly services and increasing to twice-daily from October 30 to November 30. On the Kuala Lumpur route, the Dreamliner will operate 11 weekly services for the entire month of November.
From December 1, the Dreamliner will be placed on the airline’s Banda Seri Begawan-Dubai-London route.
RBA has a total of five Dreamliners on order and these will sport a two-class configuration, with 18 seats in Business Class in a 2-2-2 layout and 236 seats in Economy Class in a 3-3-3 layout.
The new Dreamliners will replace the B777-200ERs, which are currently operated on RBA’s longhaul services. The airline currently has a fleet of four Airbus A320s and two A319s on operating leases, which will expire in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
The flag carrier has also issued a request proposal for the replacement of its fleet of regional narrow-body aircraft starting late 2015, marking the final piece in its transformation that began with a new corporate identity.
