Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) the flagship carrier of the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, is looking to strengthen its domestic network as it focusses on three important long-haul destinations – namely Melbourne, Dubai and London.
According to Dermot Mannion, deputy chairman of RBA, this strategy employed by the airline is the right way forward at a time when there is much uncertainty and turbulence in the global aviation industry.
'Royal Brunei is an airline with a very long and proud tradition but not uncommon for an airline company of its size, has struggled in recent years to compete in the various markets it is operating. Since I joined the company two years ago, we have had to refocus and restructure the organisation, resulting in in a slimmed down, much more efficient RBA,' said Mannion.
The restructuring saw a cut in considerable amount of flying to Australia and New Zealand as the airline concentrates on its three primary long haul destinations – Melbourne, Dubai and London.
RBA is extra cautious when dealing with the long-haul market for a number of reasons, added Mannion. 'While increase in fuel prices and consumer weakness in Europe are key reasons, we are also beginning to see a considerable impact from the growth of the three Gulf carriers, namely Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways across the south-east region. Thus we believe that moderating our strategy on long haul is exactly the right way to go forward for RBA and we make no apology for saying that,' he added.
'In addition, we are very focussed on developing our regional franchise of 10 short-haul routes across key Southeast Asian destinations. We want to build our traffic around this region and will then look at expanding our network here as the opportunity arises,' he added.
In the Middle East, RBA is looking to upgrade its service for its passengers. The airline will depute the Dreamliner 787 on its long-haul routes, when it takes delivery of the aircraft in October 2013. RBA will become the first airline in southeast Asia to introduce the Dreamliner into commercial service.
'RBA has been one of the longest established players in the Dubai market and have operated this route for more than 20 years. In spite of tremendous competition business has remained very high with summer months recording up to 80 per cent load factors.
'Looking forward, we are keen to connect passengers from other points in the Middle East through Dubai to our new Melbourne service, which was introduced this March,' he added.
RBA currently have five aircrafts on order with delivery starting from 2013 stretching all the way to mid-2014. The airline recently announced a one-year partnership with SimpliFlying to provide strategic consulting for its customer engagement, marketing and social media strategy covering its various stations including Brunei, Melbourne, London and Dubai.