Royal Brunei Airlines
Brunei’s government-owned flag carrier, operating scheduled regional and long-haul services from Bandar Seri Begawan with a compact, internationally focused network.
About Royal Brunei Airlines
Royal Brunei Airlines is Brunei Darussalam’s national carrier. Established in 1974, it is wholly owned by the Government of Brunei and operates under the BI airline code. Its identity reflects its role as the country’s flag carrier, linking the small Southeast Asian state with major commercial and leisure markets abroad. The airline maintains its corporate base in Bandar Seri Begawan and operates scheduled passenger services under the Royal Brunei brand.
Brunei International Airport in Bandar Seri Begawan is the airline’s primary hub and the centre of its network. Royal Brunei serves 13 destinations across 11 countries through 26 routes, with an emphasis on Southeast Asia and selected cities in East Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe. Key points include Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Melbourne, Dubai and London, alongside nearby Kota Kinabalu.
Aircraft associated with Royal Brunei’s operational record include the Airbus A319 and A320 families, Boeing 737-400 and Boeing 777-200/200ER. Its modern operations have also used Airbus A320neo narrow-body aircraft and Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners for longer sectors. Cabin products vary by aircraft and route, with Economy Class throughout the network and Business Class offered on principal regional and long-haul services. Catering and entertainment provision also depend on flight duration and aircraft configuration.
Royal Brunei Airlines is not a member of Star Alliance, SkyTeam or Oneworld, although it maintains selected commercial partnerships that can broaden itinerary options. Its loyalty programme is Royal Skies, through which members can earn and redeem miles on eligible Royal Brunei flights and access benefits according to membership tier. Travellers should check the programme’s current earning rules because fare class, route and ticket conditions can affect mileage credit.
A notable strength is the airline’s ability to connect Brunei directly with major cities despite its relatively compact network. Bandar Seri Begawan can also provide a manageable transfer experience compared with much larger regional hubs. The trade-off is limited frequency and fewer alternative routings on some routes, so a disruption may be harder to recover from quickly. Passengers with onward connections should therefore allow sensible transfer time and review schedule-change conditions before booking.
Good to know
Flying with Royal Brunei Airlines — what to expect
Dry Airline Policy
Royal Brunei does not serve alcohol on board. Passengers should also review Brunei’s rules before carrying alcohol into the country.
Baggage By Fare
Checked and cabin baggage entitlements depend on the route, cabin and fare conditions. Confirm the allowance shown on your ticket before packing, especially when connecting to another airline.
Compact Hub Transfers
Connections at Brunei International Airport are generally more straightforward than at the region’s largest hubs. Allow extra time when travelling on separate tickets because protection during a missed connection may not apply.
Cabin Product Varies
Long-haul aircraft generally provide a more extensive seat, entertainment and meal experience than aircraft used on shorter regional sectors. Check the scheduled aircraft when cabin features are important.
Limited Daily Frequencies
Some destinations may not operate every day or may have only limited frequencies. Build flexibility into onward plans because same-day alternatives can be scarce after a cancellation.
Royal Skies Credit
Royal Skies members should add their membership number before travel and retain boarding passes until miles post. Earning can vary by booking class and ticket conditions.
Network overview
Where Royal Brunei Airlines flies
Royal Brunei Airlines operates 26 routes to 13 destinations across 11 countries, its longest sector reaching Bandar Seri Begawan to Dubai (6,723 km nonstop).
Destinations served
Cities Royal Brunei Airlines flies to, most-served first.
Main hubs
Busiest departure bases, by route count.
Fleet
Aircraft types on record for these routes.
Longest nonstop route
Bandar Seri Begawan → Dubai
6,723 km · BWN → DXB
The longest sector in the Royal Brunei Airlines network, measured as the great-circle distance between the two airports.
Route data · TravelPayouts route data · updated 2026-07
Route network
Popular routes operated by Royal Brunei Airlines
Notable destinations on Royal Brunei Airlines's network.
BIBandar Seri BegawandirectBIDubaidirectBIKuala LumpurdirectBIBangkokdirectBIHong KongdirectBIJakartadirectBIKota KinabaludirectBILondondirectBIManiladirectBIMelbournedirectBIShanghaidirectBISingaporedirectDestination list is indicative of Royal Brunei Airlines's network; see the airline's official route map for its complete, current schedule.
Reviews of Royal Brunei Airlines
TripAdvisor · 2020–2023- 59
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What travellers flew
Counted from the 50 reviews below — a tally of the flights reviewed, with each chip carrying the average score those reviewers gave. Nothing here reads their prose or summarises what they said.
✓ marks a group averaging 7/10 or better, − one averaging 4/10 or worse, across at least three reviews.
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Used this airline a few times going London to Dubai or vice versa because it was a little cheaper than other airlines. The online check-in never works. Tried iphone/laptop/android and have never been able to check in for one of these flights. Then join a large… See more queue (and arrive to airport early) unnecessarily as I don't take bags just to get a boarding pass. Not worth the difference in price. Go for BA/Emirates for better flight (and for the tech to actually work)
See lessPosted May 2023 by Explorer544348
DO NOT GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THIS AIRLINE. THEY WILL REFUSE COMPENSATION.
Absolutely awful airline, with even worst customer service. We arrived in Melbourne on 28th Feb 2023, only to find that my luggage was missing. I got it back after 2 MONTHS and had to spend all my savings on new clothes and medication. The journey to getting… See more it back was absolutely appaling. My emails and calls were being ignored to the point where I was trying to contact them every day. I ended up going through Facebook messenger. They finally got back to me saying they have found my suitcase and will contact me when it is on the way. 2 days later and the WRONG suitcase arrived with no indication it was on the way, AFTER I had asked them to check the contents inside before the sent it. So then I ended up with some poor woman's suitcase in my garage. Fast foward another month, and my mother all the way back in England was also trying to contact them as we were being IGNORED!! FINALLY my suitcase turned up, not thanks to Royal Brunei, but to the luggage company in London/Melbourne (Menzies I believe). I have been trying to contact Royal Brunei for a further 3 weeks now about the compensation they owe me (they should pay me a certain amount for each day I was without my case and then some!!) STILL NO LUCK and yet again being ignored after resorting to contacting them about 4 times a week. They clearly do not want to take responsibility for the amount of financial and mental stress they have caused me, yet alone pay me the compensation I deserve. They are withholding my money and it's disgusting and unethical. I have never known such useless and disgraceful customer service. Please fly with another airline!!
See lessPosted May 2023 by Abbie S
DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY WITH THIS AIRLINE.
I've never left a review of anything in my life, If I have a bad experience I just don't use something again. HOWEVER after flying with Royal Brunei you realise how much of a useless money hungry neglectful business they are. For context, me and my partner… See more flew from London to Melbourne with them. On arrival at baggage claim, after 3 hours of waiting my partners luggage didn't turn up. We were told by the airline we would recieve compensation and her bag shortly. A whole month later her bag was still lost and with no update as to where it was, they stopped responding to emails and calls. We did recieve the luggage two weeks later, however no compensation and no sign of it. We spent in total about £2000 on our flights and have recieved NO customer service. Just don't. They suck
See lessPosted May 2023 by Jack
The worst experience ever for a frequent flyer!
My first flight was delayed by 14 hours, then second flight was delayed 5 hours then brought forward again to 2 hours after the original flight making it a nightmare to get the the airport. The airline lost both my bags, one has fortunately showed up but the… See more other is still missing. I am an expat so am frequently flying with many different airlines and never in my life have I experience such an awful service. I would stay well away even if it’s a cheaper flight! Definitely not worth the stress I have been through in the last 2 weeks.
See lessPosted April 2023 by Phillippa C
If you're doing some research on Royal Brunei before you go ahead and book your budget ticket, PLEASE READ THIS FIRST.
I am currently sat in Muscat international airport (Oman). My flight however is from London Heathrow, stopping at Brunei and then Manila. I departed at 17.15pm in London on the 2nd of April and I am typing this on the 4th of April at around 7am local time in… See more Oman. I was supposed to land in Manila at around 9pm on the 3rd... So first class experience started with the online check-in service which did not work at all and would not let me do it after several attempts. When me and my partner checked in at the airport, the girl and the desk sat us both apart so we had an 8 hour trip to Dubai sitting separately. This is forgivable but I am including this as it gets so much worse. We landed in Dubai and the flight was fine, no complaints. When I originally booked this ticket, it was sold to me as a refuel in Dubai (so you remain on the plane) and then a change over in Brunei. So 2 stops but quick turnovers and only one airport to go through security. However when we got to Dubai, the captain announced we still had to get off to go through security to then come straight back onto the exact same plane and same seat. Ok? Once this was done, we were told that there was going to be a delay of around 20 minutes due to a 'technical' problem. This 20 minutes turned into 2 hours. What was happening was the plane would taxi onto the runway and then lose all power, so incredibly reassuring before reaching 40k ft at 500mph. Both times this happened, they parked the plane back up and then an engineer would investigate, he would walk into the cockpit and press the reset button. He did it twice so he had a busy day. We eventually took off but to then to my absolute amazement, around 25 minutes into the flight the captain announced we would be turning back around and landing immediately. So due to the fact we were having issues departing, me and my partner spent the next 30 minutes thinking it may be our last (can't beat those holiday feels). However the captain reassured us that everything was under control, it was just the left engine had failed, so no biggy. This is where the story gets incredible. We land at muscat around an hour after taking off from Dubai and are welcomed with around 7 fire engines, therefore the communication from the captain to the ground would have only been a subtle and in control mayday. We parked up on the runway, where we remain for around 90 minutes which the crew took this opportunity to run the breakfast service. Once this had been done, we finally get off and get shuttle busses to the airport. This was around 8/9am on the 3rd of April 2023. THIS WOULD BE THE LAST TIME ANY PASSENGER ON THAT FLIGHT WOULD SEE OR HEAR FROM ANYONE IN A ROYAL BRUNEI UNIFORM. A passenger who is in the british army but lives in Brunei had done the same trip the weekend before with Royal Brunei. He was in complete disbelief because he had a 13 hour delay that weekend with that exact plane.. BECAUSE OF THE LEFT ENGINE. And a week later, Royal Brunei are risking hundreds of lives on a long haul flight because it is clearly a known problem but clearly profit trumps children. From hear, we are hearded into a corner of the airport and kept for a total of 16+ hours. 1 6. Every passenger had missed their connecting flight (Brunei, Jakarta, manila and Melbourne) so we were stranded with no information. Royal Brunei had dropped us off and then abandoned their passengers with an airport team that had no chance to prepare and an airline that was unwilling to even pick up the phone. We waited, and we waiting and we waited for something, anything of their plans to resolve this issue but there was nothing. I have eventually been transferred to Oman airlines which I have had to wait over 24 hours for from my original Dubai departure time. However, 50% of the passengers are still stuck in a hotel (which took 12+ hours to be finally agreed to be given to them) as there are no flights to Melbourne. They put boxes of stale sandwiches and biscuits in the corner
See lessPosted April 2023 by Will T
Thank you!
I would like to thank Dk. ASYAHDATUL A3100 (SENIOR) and SITI NYRUL HAZIYANA AU677 and DK. NAQIAH A4671 for taking especially good care of me . I had a very bad anxiety on the flight to BRUNEI. THEY took Exceptionally good care of me . THANK YOU SO MUCH! KEEP… See more UP THE GOOD WORK! I would definitely fly with Royal Brunei Airline's again.
See lessPosted March 2023 by Irene Y
Traveller reviews originally published on TripAdvisor, shown for reference — service standards may have changed since. Originfacts does not edit or verify individual reviews, and the sample reflects who chose to leave one.
FAQ
Royal Brunei Airlines — frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the details travellers usually check first, from codes and locations to the practical basics that help with planning.
8 common questions
- Originfacts compares live fares from hundreds of airlines and travel agencies via its partner Travelpayouts. Originfacts never adds a fee.
- Royal Brunei Airlines serves exactly 13 destinations across 11 countries, operating 26 routes.
- Royal Brunei Airlines links Bandar Seri Begawan with destinations in Southeast and East Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe. Notable cities include Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Melbourne, Dubai and London.
- Lower fares are generally easier to find when booking early, travelling outside school holidays and remaining flexible about departure dates. Compare nearby dates and fare conditions, as the cheapest ticket may have stricter change or refund rules.
- Its busiest departure point is Bandar Seri Begawan, followed by Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Bangkok based on the number of routes. Bandar Seri Begawan is the airline’s principal operational hub.
- Cabin-baggage limits vary by travel class, fare and itinerary. Check the allowance printed on your booking and Royal Brunei’s current baggage rules before departure, particularly if another carrier operates part of the journey.
- Royal Brunei Airlines is based at Brunei International Airport in Bandar Seri Begawan. This is its busiest departure hub and the main connecting point for its network.
- Royal Brunei Airlines's longest route is the nonstop service from Bandar Seri Begawan to Dubai, covering about 6,723 km.