ROYAL BRUNEI AIRLINES: P. O. Box 737, Bandar Seri Begawan, Negara Brunei Darussalam, 1907, Brunei; Phone 673 (2) 240 500; Fax 673 (2) 244 737; Http://www. bruneiair. com; Code BI; Year Founded 1974. With technical assistance and personnel provided by the British Airways, Ltd. (2) subsidiary British Airways Associated Companies, Ltd., this new government-controlled national airline is formed at Brunei City on November 18, 1974. Revenue flights begin with the carrier’s single wet-leased Boeing 737-2M6 on May 14, 1975 over a lone Brunei City to Singapore route via Jesselton on British North Borneo. Flights to Kuching and Hong Kong begin next day.
A second B-737-2M6 is acquired in 1976 to consolidate the network begun the previous year and with which to open new routes. Weekly or twice-weekly service is started to Manila on April 3 and to Bangkok on December 9.
In May and June 1978, routes are opened to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, Malaysia.
Enplanements during the 12 months total 90,754. Revenues for Chairman Yang Teramat Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Bakti DiRaja Dato Laila Utama Awang Isa bin Pehin Datu Perdana Mentri Dato Laila Utama Awang Taji Ibrahim’s carrier reach $7,420,000 and airline employment totals 218.
The workforce is increased 29.1% in 1979 to 368.
Passenger boardings jump 12.4% to 103,600 while freight traffic soars 34.9%. Despite the fuel crisis, revenues climb 30% to $10.6 million. A B-737-2M6C is ordered.
Airline employment grows by 25% in 1980 to 400 as the Boeing combi joins the fleet.
Cargo increases 36.7% to 3.32 million FTKs and passenger traffic rises 3.4% to 107,100.
The employee population grows by 22.5% in 1981 to 490.
Passenger bookings swell 18% to 126,400, while freight climbs 21% to 4.01 million FTKs. Revenues total $27.5 million.
The employee population in 1982 is 520, a 0.1% increase. One Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is placed in service on local routes.
Cargo is up 21.1% to 468,000 FTKs and enplanements advance 22.1% to 154,118.
The payroll is increased 15.4% to 600 in 1983. Service is inaugurated to Kuala Lumpur in May and in cooperation with Malaysian Airlines System, Ltd. (MAS) , joint service is simultaneously inaugurated from Kuala Lumpur to Bahrain and Cairo. Flights to Darwin commence in June and to Jakarta in December.
Passenger boardings advance 5.5% to 173,499, while freight climbs 6% to 5.14 million FTKs. Orders are placed in 1984 for two B-757-200s. Enplanements total 197,408, but cargo falls 10.1% to 4.62 million FTKs.
The workforce grows to 629 in 1985 as Pengiran Tengah Metassim becomes CEO/managing director. In cooperation with Singapore Airlines, Ltd., thrice-weekly joint service is initiated in April from Brunei to Bangkok, employing Royal Brunei’s B-737-2M6. Passenger traffic figures are boosted 8% to 199,000 passengers flown, but cargo declines 5% to 4.41 million FTKs.
In January 1986, joint services are started with Cathay Pacific Airways (Pty.), Ltd. to Hong Kong. The fleet is enlarged by the addition of two B-757-2M6ERs delivered this year, the first arriving on May 6; both are employed on charter flights to Sydney.
In July, new livery of dark yellow under white is adopted. Late in the year, $110 million is invested in the carrier by the government to help cover the costs of the new aircraft.
Customer bookings increase 4% to 206,600 while freight recovers and moves ahead by 1% to 4.48 million FTKs.
The payroll grows by 8.5% in 1987 to 893. In January, the new Boeings initiate twice-weekly roundtrips from Bandar Seri Begawan to Taipei. Complete with a $300,000 B-757 cabin mock-up, a new engineering workshop and training center is opened in Brunei in July.
Passenger boardings ascend 9% to 247,000 while cargo is up 6% to 4.85 million FTKs.
Airline employment is increased another 5.3% in 1988 to 1,000 and the fleet now includes 2 B-757-2M6ERs, 1 B-737-2M6, and 1 B-737-2M6C. Twice-weekly scheduled service is inaugurated in late fall to Dubai, U. A.E.
Passenger boardings leap up 14.1% to 248,325 and cargo 23.5% to 5.97 million FTKs.
The workforce inches up by 1.5% in 1989 to an even 1,000 as the fleet is increased by addition of a third B-757-2M6ER that is placed on the new service to Dubai. The two B-737-2M6s purchased in the early 1970s are withdrawn and the one remaining is reconfigured to a singleclass, seating 112.
Supported by SRI International, a complete management study is completed during late winter as the airline’s portion of the ABACUS reservations system comes on-line. In the fall, a B-757-2M6ER is chartered, crew and all, by Australian Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. to help provide domestic capacity during eight weeks of the national industry-wide pilots’ strike.
Customer bookings surge another 6.9% to 268,164 and cargo does better, moving ahead by 27.5% to 8.38 million FTKs.
Company employment is increased by 20% in 1990 to 1,200 and the carrier’s paid-up capital now totals about $40.5 million (U. S.). The carrier inaugurates flights to Frankfurt via Bangkok and Dubai in May, followed by service to London (LGW) via Singapore and Dubai. The carrier also serves 10 points in Southeast Asia, Dubai, and Darwin in Australia with a fleet of Dornier 228-220s.
In addition, a U. S. general sales agent is appointed. The first of three chartered B-767-33AERs arrives on June 9 after having completed the longest delivery flight by a twin-engine commercial airliner—9,252 mi. from Seattle in 18 hrs. 29 min. In November, twice-weekly B-757-2M6ER is inaugurated to London (LGW).
Passenger boardings climb 11.8% to 304,169 and freight ascends 17.4% to 9.85 million FTKs.
Managing Director Pengiran Haji Tengah Metassim’s fleet in 1991 includes 1 B-727-2U5A, 3 each B-757-2M6ERs, and 3 each B-767-33AERs. With the beginning of the new schedule at the end of March, service is initiated to Perth, Jeddah, and Bali. Twice-weekly B-767-33AER roundtrips are inaugurated to London (LHR) via Singapore and Dubai, on May 7.
Airline employment stands at 1,400 in 1992. Applications are made to provide scheduled services to Zurich, Cairo, Bali, and Bahrain. Meanwhile, charter flights are made to Nigata and Nagoya in Japan and Santa Barbara, California. A relief mission is flown to the former Yugoslavia, 13 charters are undertaken to Mecca, and Brunei-based Gurkha soldiers are taken to and from their homes in Nepal.
Enplanements total 461,000 and freight is up 74.3% to 34.66 million FTKs.
In 1993, Chairman HRH Prince Haji Jefri Bolkish and Managing Director Metassim oversee a workforce of 1,449, down 15% from the previous year. The B-727-2U5A is withdrawn and one B-757-2M6ER is leased to Myanmar International Airways, Ltd. in Burma. Scheduled flights begin to Beijing, Zurich, Cairo, and Bahrain during the summer and charters are undertaken to Mecca.
Frankfurt frequencies become thrice weekly during the same period. An A340-212 arrives for use by the Sultan as his personal aircraft when required. Although it is given a VIP interior, it nevertheless wears the colors of the national airline.
All of this expansion has a significant impact upon traffic figures. Passenger boardings balloon 30.7% to 604,129 while cargo rises a huge 87.3% to 64.81 million FTKs.
Airline employment is increased by 11% in 1994 to 1,608. Orders are placed in January for two Fokker 50s, the first of which is delivered in May. In May and June, regional services are expanded to Miri, Labuan, Kota Kinabalu, and Kuching. B-767-33AER service to Brisbane is introduced, while weekly return frequencies to London (LHR) are doubled to four.
Cost and revenue sharing with Dragonair, Ltd. begins in September over a route from Bandar Seri Begawan to Hong Kong. Also during the month, RBI takes a 10% equity stake in Singapore Airlines, Ltd.’s Pan Asia Pacific Aviation Services maintenance joint venture concern, which is being established at Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok Airport.
The second Fokker 50 is delivered in November and plans are made to introduce scheduled services to Amsterdam and Ho Chi Minh City during the new year. In December, weekly roundtrips begin to Balikpapan, Kalimantan, while twice-weekly return service also begins to Osaka.
Chief among the cost-cutting measures put in place in 1995 is a 19.2% staff reduction, which lowers the employee count to 1,300. A weekly return service to Calcutta is launched in November.
Passenger boardings rise 19% to 916,199 while cargo moves ahead by 16% to 109.82 million FTKs.
The reduction in force is reversed in 1996 as the workforce grows by 7.4% to 1,880. The fleet now includes 2 B-757-2M6ERs, 7 B-767-33AERs, 3 Dornier 228-220s, and 2 Fokker 50s. An eighth B-737-33AER is subleased to Vietnam Airlines.
In April, a code-sharing agreement is signed with British Midland Airways, Ltd. Under its terms, RBA passengers arriving at London (LHR) from Bandar Seri Begawan, Singapore, and Dubai are able to seamlessly pass on to BMA flights to its U. K. hubs at Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, and Teesside. Twice-weekly roundtrips are started to Bintulu, Sarawak, on July 3.
Flights to Dubai are suspended on September 10; however, twice-weekly B-767-33AER roundtrips commence on September 12 between London and Brunei via Abu Dhabi and Yangon in Myanmar. The Yangon stop marks the first time in 20 years that a company aircraft has visited the city. To upgrade its regional services, the carrier, in November, replaces its Fokker 50s with a pair of Fokker 100s.
Daily services from Bandar Seri Begawan to London (LHR) commence on December 1 with the introduction of a direct flight via Abu Dhabi. Other Heathrow Airport services are routed twice weekly each through either Singapore and Dubai or Abu Dhabi or via Dubai. Connecting service from Yangon to Brisbane begins in late December.
Enplanements for the year soar 14.2% to 1,046,093, but freight dips 1.9% to 108.07 million FTKs.
Airline employment grows another 3% in 1997 to 1,936. New uniforms are introduced by customer service personnel during the first quarter.
Discussions begin with Garuda Indonesia early in the spring concerning a possible code-sharing agreement. The Asian currency crisis of the fall and Garuda’s figurative nosedive will force the talks to be adjourned. Still, twice-weekly roundtrips to Surabaya are introduced.
In midyear, a B-767-300ER simulator from Thomson Training & Simulation, Ltd. is placed into a newly opened training complex.
On initial approach to the oil town of Miri after a September 6 service from Labuan and Bandar Seri Begawan, Flight 238, a Dornier 228212 leased from Malaysia’s Merpati Intan with 2 crew and 8 passengers, collides with 500-m.-high Lambir Hill. The wreckage is not found until the next day and there are no survivors.
During the fall, service begins to Surabaya. When the B-727s of Qatar Airways go out of the country for their certification checks during October, the Gulf-based airline leases a B-757-2M6ER from Royal
Brunei Airlines for two months. It is employed to allow Qatar to reenter the Dhaka market with nonstop roundtrips.
The same fiscal crisis that hits Indonesia causes a traffic decline for Royal Brunei. The board of directors is now restructured and a new chairman is named.
Passenger boardings dip 0.9% to 1,036,500; however, freight climbs 8.7% to 117.44 million FTKs.
Flights continue without fanfare in 1998. Customer bookings inch up to 1.04 million, but cargo traffic does much better, growing 17.1% to 327.72 million FTKs.
Little is heard of the airline in the West until it becomes involved in a meat controversy in early 1999.
In late January, various Australian agencies inform the airline that, due to an outbreak of the blue tongue virus, sheep cannot be exported from Darwin over the wet seasons. In February, the airline sponsors the Baiduri World Badminton Finals, the sport’s annual championship series.
In March, the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service reports that sheep exports to Brunei may be resumed between June 1 and October 31.
The controversy, which is fully covered in the May 26 issue of the Borneo Bulletin, grows in late April when reports on what has become known as the “meat controversy” begin to appear in the press. The Australian High Commission denies a claim that its government has placed a temporary ban on sheep exports due to blue tongue disease.
The matter takes on an entirely different flavor when, in mid-May, reports mention that RBA Executive Director Sheikh Jamaluddin has not only acknowledged a shortage of halal lamb chops, but has blamed it on the strict religious regulation on imports imposed by the country’s Halal Committee.
On May 21, the board of directors of Royal Brunei officially disassociates the carrier from what are termed the director’s personal views. It sincerely pledges to the Sultan and public the national airline’s continued support for the exercise and enforcement of the relevant regulations according to the Syariah.
At the beginning of April 2000, a B-767-33AER is subchartered to Air Algerie, S. A. for its long-haul international services. The last two Fokker 100s are retired in mid-May. A B-767-33AER is chartered to Vietnam Airlines on September 30. It wears full Royal Brunei livery with Vietnam Airlines titles.
The airline introduces a fourth weekly B-767-333AER return service between Brisbane and Brunei on October 31. A ceremony is held at the new Brisbane office, attended by Executive Director Pg Ali bin Pg Haji Ahmad and Australian Deputy Prime Minister James Elder.
On November 1, Chairman Dato Mohd Alimin Abd Wahab informs The Borneo Bulletin that his carrier will be adding Airbus Industrie A319s to the fleet in 2003. A third weekly B-767-33AER roundtrip from Perth to Brunei begins on November 3.
In a ceremony presided over by Chairman Dato Mohd Alimin Abd Wahab, the company, on November 9, opens a new office at Brisbane. At the 26th Anniversary Gala Night held at the International Convention Center on November 18, the chairman reviews the airline’s progress, noting its importance to the domestic economy. As reported in the November 20 issue of The Borneo Bulletin, 55 staff members receive special awards for 25 years of service.
ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL: United States (19891991). Like its larger competitor Carnival Cruise Lines, the holiday steamship concern Royal Caribbean also begins to offer scheduled air service in 1989, albeit on a much smaller scale. Employing two Australian-built GAF Nomad N-24As, the company flies passengers between the islands of the Caribbean on a service calculated to link customers with cruise ship departures. Discussions are held with Trans World Airlines (TWA) concerning the possibility of a “TWExpress” partnership.
Hopes to become a TWA affiliate evaporate in 1990 and the operator shuts its doors in early 1991.
World History
