Royal Brunei Airlines’ final Perth service; to return some leased Boeing 777-200ERs to Singapore Airlines

27 October 2011 (UPDATED 8 NOVEMBER 2011): Royal Brunei Airlines operated their last  passenger service to and from Perth on 27th October 2011, when Airbus A320-232 V8-RBT operated flight BI67  from Bandar Seri Bagawan (Brunei), arriving in Perth at 02:27. The final Royal Brunei service from Perth departed  at 12.22 as flight BI68 back to Bandar Seri Bagawan (Brunei).

As reported on AviationWA in June 2011, due to significant losses, Royal Brunei is cutting back or eliminating a number of services, including all flights to Perth, Brisbane and Auckland, leaving a four times weekly Melbourne service as their only Australian destination (the Melbourne route only started in March 2011).

The airline has been serving Perth since 1991, when they began services with Boeing 757-200s. A year later, they upgraded the services to the Boeing 767-300ER, but occasionally still used 757s. From 2004, they began using A319s and A320s, and sometimes a 767-300ER. From October 2010, they began using the Boeing 777-200ER on the Perth route, but in the final months, A320s operated the service.

On 8 November 2011, the airline announced that it is reducing its long-haul operations, and shifting focus to short-haul services to other Asian countries using its A319 and A320 aircraft.

As a result, Royal Brunei  is now negotiating with  Singapore Airlines to return some or all of its leased Boeing 777-200ER aircraft early. Royal Brunei leased six Boeing 777-200ERs from Singapore Airlines from 2010, to replace aging Boeing 767-300ERs,  as a temporary aircraft pending delivery of  Royal Brunei’s  five new Boeing 787-8s. The airline wants to standardise its fleet on the A320 family and 787s, to reduce costs.

Royal Brunei  has two A319s and two A320s in its fleet and is leasing another A320 in March 2012 from CIT Aerospace.