Royal Brunei Airlines receives its first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

Boeing (NYSE: BA) delivered to Royal Brunei Airlines, the flag carrier of the Sultanate of Brunei, the airline's and South-East Asia's first 787 Dreamliner. The carrier has ordered a total of five aircraft.

The 787 is scheduled to begin flying regionally to Singapore on October 18, with long-haul service to London, via Dubai, set to begin on December 1. Royal Brunei anticipates delivering on its promise of all Dreamliner long-haul service in the second quarter of 2014 when it will introduce the 787 on flights to Melbourne, Australia.

The airplane flew 6,540 nautical miles (12,112 km) non-stop from Paine Field, Everett, Washington state, home to Bandar Seri Begawan international airport in Brunei.

Dermot Mannion, chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines said

"This exciting addition keeps passenger comfort and high quality service at the heart of our airline and is yet another effort to ensure our fleet remains modern and offers peaceful and tranquil travel," "As a small airline we offer truly personal service, delighting our passengers with an authentic Bruneian grace to enrich their journeys."

Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Asia Pacific and India Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said

"We are delighted that Royal Brunei Airlines has chosen to expand its fleet with five 787s," "The choice is a testament to the airline's commitment to offer the best possible service to its passengers and to operate the most efficient airplane flying today."

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Royal Brunei Airlines to lease Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ERs by February

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2010.

India's Jet Airways is close to finalising a deal with Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) to lease three Boeing 777-300ERs from Jet Airways. The deal with RBA could see the 777s flying in RBA service as early as February. These 777s are the same which Gulf Air had leased for a short period and have been returned.

There is a good fit between the two carriers. Jet has excess aircraft capacity and has been looking for another carrier to lease these uber-luxurious aircraft. The delivery of its newest 777, VT-JEL has been indefinitely deferred.

At present RBA operates to London Heathrow, it's only non-Australasia destination, via Dubai, using a two class Boeing 767. The airline has few destinations in South-East Asia (Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Jakarata, Manila etc), near east (Hong Kong). It's other longer distance services include Perth, Brisbane, Jeddah and Auckland. Its Sydney services were suspended last year, and the carrier would like to add Melbourne as a destination.

RBA’s 767s are old products, lacking the latest cabin products of it competitors in the region, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, and Malaysia Airlines. Jet’s world renowned three-class Boeing 777s are fitted with state-of-the-art cabin including first class suites and fully flat beds in business class (see images here), will enable Royal Brunei to re-launch itself with a quality product for its passengers who primarily transit, rather than visit Brunei. Jet's 777's will also provide a huge boost in capacity with their 8-30-274 first, business, economy seats compared to the RBA 767's 23-182.

Reports in The Brunei Times, indicate that RBA technical staff have already assessed the B777s in India and the Royal Brunei may commence using the aircraft by February.

At this point it is unclear whether the lease will be with crew (wet lease) or without (dry lease). Messages and follow up with Jet Airways have produced no answers. Jet Airways is keen to have the aircraft on a wet lease, which will further reduce pressures on their HR.

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