Royal Brunei Airlines on Tuesday started a direct connection flight between Brunei’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan and Chennai. The maiden flight from Brunei landed in Chennai on Tuesday night. Chennai is the only destination in India that it operates.

Brunei’s national airline will fly 3 times a week between Brunei and Chennai on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

In the 1990s, the airline flew to London via Kolkata and Dubai but discontinued after the 9/11 attacks in the US.

Gateway to southern India

The airline’s CEO Sabirin bin Hj Abdul Hami told newspersons on Wednesday that Chennai is the gateway to southern India. The new service is a bridge between the two countries. It opens up new opportunities for tourism, trade and cultural exchange between the two countries.

Passengers will travel aboard the Airbus A320neo. With the codeshare agreement with Air India, passengers flying to and from Chennai can connect to other major destinations in the airline’s network like Melbourne, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Manila and Taipei, he said.

Subhash Goyal, the founder Chairman of STIC Travel Group of Companies, which is the airline’s agency in India, said at ₹22,000 one can travel between Chennai and Brunei.

A thorough due-diligence was done before selecting Chennai over other metros for three major reasons: the presence of a large diaspora in Brunei; number of professionals like doctors and engineers from the State living there and many professionals from sectors like pharma and oil industry travelling between the two destinations.

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