| Hakim Hayat |
NATIONAL carrier Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) is poised to expand its business to greater heights following an overhaul of its entire business pillars that sees enhanced fleet of aircrafts, customer appeal and networks through new markets.
This will in turn boost the nation’s tourism growth.
In an exclusive interview with the Weekend Bulletin following the launch of its new fleet of Airbus A320neo recently, RB’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Karam Chand said significant improvements have been made over the last five years in its transformation journey which saw many memorable events including the evolution of RB’s brand and the people-centric approach in the development of its staff.
With the delivery of the last of the seven Airbus A320neo by the end of November and its current fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, RB will be the owner of one of the youngest fleet in the world with an average fleet age of two years.
This allows it to leverage on new destinations and an enhanced network with unparalleled customer service experience.
Chand said RB’s fleet renewal programme, which started in 2013, is aimed at providing better appeal for its guests.
The programme also gives the airline a more reliable and better fuel band which would ultimately bring down operating costs especially as added costs become inevitable for a legacy business like RB that is over 43 years old.
“First was the wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliners and then it is the single-aisle A320neo, which offers a better fuel burn with (about 15 per cent reduction), less noise and environmental pollution, and better maintenance cost.
“And because we own these aircraft, it is generally better than leasing them, allowing us to take advantage of a better cost structure,” added the CEO.
Chand said the new fleet will play a vital role in maintaining and improving RB’s operational reliability which is extremely important as it has a national role to play. The airline also provides close to 80 per cent of all seats to and from Brunei.
The CEO said the new technology fleet will play a key part in RB’s long-term development and allows the airline to create value for the Brunei economy through tourism, trade and increased direct connectivity.
Keeping guests’ perspective in mind, Chand said the new A320neo has been customised and targetted to not only fly into the short-haul sectors but also medium-haul sectors to markets in north Asia, Korea and Japan.
“They have been designed to make sure that guests don’t feel them much different to the Boeing 787 Dreamliners, giving the guests similar experience and level of comfort.
“The new A320neo gives the seat comforts, entertainment systems and experience that provide our guests the feel no different from the other aircraft,” he said.
Chand said the new A320neo has also allowed RB to expand frequency of flights to its existing markets such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur that are seeing greater demand and requiring larger capacities.
The CEO last week announced that RB is further strengthening its network with the introduction of Haikou by the end of October, and Taipei and Changsa from December this year.
On top of its current scheduled flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hangzhou and Nanning, RB is seeking to add further capacity into China, by operating flights to seven cities, by the first quarter next year.
“This will significantly expand the airline’s strong footprint in the very important Chinese market and further assist the development of the tourism sector. It is one of the fastest growing markets, with the number of Chinese visitors to Brunei doubling in three years to over 52,000 in 2017,” he said.
“People enjoy travelling and they want new experiences and we felt that Brunei has a lot to offer. We are entering into one of the largest tourism markets in the world and a lot of them are from north Asia, Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan.
Chand also announced an exciting new route – Tokyo – that RB will fly to beginning March 15, 2019.
It will be an important capital city to capital city connection with thrice weekly flights, and will be increased in line with market growth, he said.
Chand said offering direct flights to and from these destinations is a significant advantage in terms of stimulating demand because guests prefer as little hassle as possible when travelling.
Another huge game-changing innovation is the commencement of non-stop flights to London (Heathrow) from October 28 this year, he said.
This, he added, will be the quickest way to and from London flying on RB’s Dreamliner aircraft.
“We will also be offering one-stop service between Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) and with one of the shortest elapsed time of any competitors on the ‘Kangaroo Route’.”
Meanwhile, Chand said RB’s infrastructure plays a very important part in its transformation journey.
“We upgraded our previous head office – the RB Plaza in Bandar Seri Begawan, and our Customer Service Centre, Customer Call Centre and Royal Skies,” he added.
“We also invested heavily in our facilities for our people at our new head office – Simpur Building and our entire RB Campus at the airport precinct. These facilities reflect our ethos and the forward-looking nature of our people,” the CEO said.
RB had introduced its flagship Business Class Lounge and revamped the Sky Lounge at the Brunei International Airport.
“The RB Business Class Lounge takes on board the needs of our business class guests and Royal Skies members. Features that take care of guest’s comfort, relaxation, fine dining and entertainment are provided in the new lounge.
“RB’s upgraded Sky Lounge is open – for the first time in Brunei – to walk-in guests,” Chand added.
The new RB A320neo fleet’s cabin facilities – especially its in-flight entertainment – have exceeded guests’ expectations; they are considered as the ‘best in class’ with ‘five-star’ for regional services.
As the airline partners with Thales, RB’s A320neo offers guests unmatched levels of in-flight entertainment.
It is the world’s first single-aisle aircraft fitted with Thales Avant (Gen 5) in-flight entertainment system.
Chand also mentioned RB’s partnership with Brunei Tourism and Singapore’s M&C Saatchi. This led to a large-scale global digital marketing campaign for Brunei.
“We had over 250,000 tourist arrivals into Brunei last year and we would like to see that double by 2021.
“We believe we can achieve this, for example, with the launching of RB’s Aircraft Livery that will fly around our network,” he said.
RB’s Aircraft Livery is a strong tool to create awareness of Brunei with the support of the influential social media marketing, the CEO added.
The RB, Brunei Tourism and M&C Saatchi partnership, Chand said is unique because this is the first time that a national carrier is given the lead in destination marketing.
Although Brunei faces fierce competition from neighbouring destinations, Chand said the new marketing campaign is a 100 per cent capable of giving significant impact.
The CEO highlighted that the key to RB’s success – and continued success – is its people.
“We continue to invest heavily in our people programmes. Our cadet pilot programme started in 1975 and every year we have sent young Bruneians on extensive training to become pilots.
“Ninety-eight per cent of our senior first officers and nearly half our captains are Bruneians. All management pilots are locals,” he said.
“We also have a very successful engineering apprenticeship and graduate trainee programmes that have helped us develop our engineers and provide a middle management pipeline,” he added.
Chand shared that last year the airline started a special initiative – a young entrepreneur programme that involved its youthful high performance staff who undertook formal and informal training including projects and mentoring.
“We don’t know of any similar programmes anywhere. Our succession planning programmes have yielded very positive results with the localisation of a number of ‘C’ level roles and achieving a high degree of Bruneian participation in senior management roles.”