Brunei - Dreamliner delivery by Aug 2013

ROYAL Brunei Airlines (RBA) intends to take the delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner by August next year, the airline said yesterday.

"We have no confirmed dates for the B787 delivery at the moment. However, we can say that we are working towards the first delivery by August 2013," a spokesperson said in an email to The Brunei Times.

News about the much-awaited aircraft delivery appeared in the recent travel trade newspaper, TTG Asia, in which RBA Deputy Chairman Dermot Mannion spoke of the flag carrier's initiative to reposition itself as a "boutique" airline.

"We have been restructuring our business in recent months, and are now refocussing as a boutique airline with strong regional franchise, operating only to strategic longhaul destinations," Mannion told TTG Asia.

"I am confident that as we migrate our longhaul product to the 787, we can offer a higher quality of service to meet our passengers' aspirations."

The report also said that RBA's daily Melbourne flights to and from Bandar Seri Begawan would be linked to the airlines' daily Dubai-London service.

"The daily and same-time (Melbourne) service through Brunei to the regional and longhaul networks will be an attractive product for Australia, the Middle East and London," Mannion said, while hinting that there were plans to establish similar network extensions to destinations such as Manila, Singapore and Hong Kong.

RBA first announced its plans to get the Boeing 787 Dreamliners in July 2007, with an initial deadline for acquisition of the plane by 2009.

Touted as the aerospace giant's most fuel efficient aircraft, the twin-engine Dreamliner is the first mid-sized commercial plane capable of flying long-range routes.

The plane's green credentials are also expected to help RBA comply with the European Union's controversial carbon trading scheme, which requires all carriers taking off from or landing in the EU to purchase emission permits.

"The global aviation industry emits only three per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. For our part, Royal Brunei Airlines is already committed to reducing emissions by investing in new and more fuel efficient aircraft," the national airlines said in an e-mail sent to The Brunei Times last month.

"We will achieve a reduction in our carbon footprint with the introduction of our latest technology (incorporated into the) Boeing 787 aircraft in 2013," RBA said.

In November 2010, then RBA CEO Robert Yang said that the airlines had ordered the aircraft directly through Boeing, commenting that it was a "complex arrangement". He had also shared the preparation that had to be made in anticipation of the delivery of the new aircraft.

"To accept the aircraft, there (are) a lot of plans that we need to do. We need to make sure that the team is ready engineering-wise, cabin crew-wise and so on," Yang said.

The more than three year delays in deliveries of the Dreamliner globally have been attributed to design issues, an overextended supply chain and other issues faced by the American multinational.

Despite the setbacks, the aircraft is already making headway in the industry. It recently won one of the aerospace industry's most prestigious honours for excellence, the Robert J Collier Trophy, awarded for the year 2011.

"Built largely with lightweight composite materials, combined with a host of breakthrough technologies, the 787 Dreamliner is 20 per cent more fuel efficient than similarly-sized aeroplanes, allowing airlines to open new, non-stop routes preferred by the travelling public," a press release circulated by PR Newswire said.

"The aeroplane is also much easier for airlines to maintain and sets new standards in environmental performance. Sixty customers have ordered 868 Dreamliners, making it the fastest-selling wide-body aeroplane in commercial aviation history."

UBAIDILLAH MASLI

The Brunei Times

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