The flag carrier Royal Brunei has three long-haul routes: Bandar Seri Begawan to Dubai, London Heathrow, and Melbourne. You might think even that is excessive for the tiny Asian nation with barely half a million people and an area smaller than the US state of Delaware. But it's down from five in 2019, and Brunei's population/area is, of course, only one part of the picture.

Three long-haul routes

Royal Brunei's long-haul network is shown below. It currently has 4x weekly departures, rising to 12x weekly by the end of June and 13x weekly from the start of the northern winter season. All flights are bookable and use its sole widebody type, the Boeing B787-8. It is often among the least expensive airlines, although some may object to no alcohol.

  1. Bandar Seri Begawan to Dubai: currently 1x weekly, rising to 4x weekly from June 28th
  2. Bandar Seri Begawan to London Heathrow: now 1x weekly, and 3x weekly from June 28th
  3. Bandar Seri Begawan to Melbourne: presently 2x weekly, climbing to 5x weekly from June 30th and 6x weekly from October 27th

Melbourne and London were set to be 1x daily, but conditions don't yet warrant it. Continuing COVID restrictions haven't helped, but the country is gradually reopening. Depending on progress, it is possible that London will see more weekly flights later this year.

Royal Brunei's long-haul network
Royal Brunei's long-haul network in the past 10 years. Yellow = served; red = no longer served. There's no indication if or when Brisbane (BNE) and Jeddah (JED) will resume. Having ended in 2011, BNE was served again from July 2019 until March 2020. JED operated for many years until March 2020. Image: GCMap.

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A look at London

Historically, London has been the cornerstone of Royal Brunei's long-haul network. Brunei gained independence from the UK on January 1st, 1984, driving demand. Booking data shows that, across all airlines, around 41,000 round-trip passengers flew between Bandar and London in 2019.

In the past two decades, Bandar Seri Begawan was connected to London via Abu Dhabi and subsequently by Dubai, both to refuel (it previously used the B767-300ER and B777-200ER) and to carry fifth-freedom passengers. Royal Brunei was almost always the cheapest non-stop option between the UK and the UAE.

It wasn't until October 2018 that London became non-stop. While the great circle distance is 7,015 miles (11,290km), the reality is that the flown distance is much greater. The most recent flight from Bandar Seri Begawan took 15h 45m, with the actual distance flown (routing over Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt) 15% longer than the shortest possible.

Royal Brunei Melbourne
The Melbourne connection is utterly vital to Royal Brunei's London service. Photo: Ev Brown via Flickr.

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A mini transit operation

The non-stop helped Royal Brunei to become more competitive in targeting London-Australia traffic, crucial to the carrier's traffic volume in what is already a highly competitive but large volume market.

Flying via Bandar Seri Begawan adds just 19 miles (31km) to the journey, although via Singapore is marginally shorter. Waits of around 90 to 120 minutes in Brunei in both directions also help.

Booking data shows that, in 2019, Melbourne was more reliant on transit (and therefore lower-yielding) passengers than London and Dubai:

  • Melbourne: approximately 88% of passengers transited Bandar Seri Begawan, enormously about London, with Dubai, Kota Kinabalu, Seoul, and Ho Chi Minh City also in the top five
  • London: 80%; significantly amount Melbourne, but also Brisbane, Manila, Kota Kinabalu, Denpasar
  • Dubai: 64%; Manila, Melbourne, Surabaya, Jakarta, and Kota Kinabalu

Have you ever flown Royal Brunei? If so, share your experiences in the comments.