Royal Brunei Airlines begins direct flights to Chennai

The inaugural Brunei-Chennai Royal Brunei flight at the Chennai International Airport on November 5, 2024. Photo: Special Arrangement

An aviation waypost was reached in Chennai on Tuesday (November 5, 2024), with Royal Brunei Airlines beginning direct flights on the Brunei-Chennai-Brunei sector.

Chennai will be the carrier’s sole destination in India. The airline flew to London via Kolkata and Dubai in the 1990s, but the service was suspended after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. It has operated some charter flights since then to stations such as Coimbatore.

Speaking to the media, Captain Sabirin Bin Hj Abdul Hamid, CEO of Royal Brunei Airlines said, “India is one of the biggest markets for aviation and it was an ideal time to step in and we decided to choose Chennai to start flights here.”

The flight time is about five hours and 30 minutes, he added.

The aircraft on the inaugural flight from Bandar Seri Begawan had a special ‘Brunei tourism’ livery, which highlights some of Brunei’s landmarks, natural splendours, and a traditional songket pattern. A large delegation from the Brunei Economic Development Board was among the passengers who arrived on Tuesday night.

An airline official said the flight, BI121/BI122, a three-day week service (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday), is to be operated with a 150-seat two-class configured Airbus A320N, and would boost business and tourism between the sultanate on the island of Borneo and southern India.

Officials from the STIC Travel Group, the airline’s India GSA, said Brunei Darussalam has an Indian diaspora largely from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and the flag carrier was looking to tap business, labour, tourism, student, and professional traffic. Another travel segment was onward traffic to its other southeast Asian destinations and also Melbourne, Australia.

The airline has an interline agreement with Air India to connect passengers from Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi to the Chennai flight.

Nazmi Mahali of Brunei Tourism said, they are trying to speed up the visa processing time for tourists. From Ulu Temburong to Mangrove River Cruise, there are plenty of options for tourists.