Royal Brunei launches a Betterfly

Royal Brunei Airline’s eight-year wait for its new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners ended with unbridled glamour and celebration in a grand ceremony last night which saw key stakeholders launching Royal Brunei’s first of five planned aircraft in a hangar just off the Brunei International Airport.

YB Minister of Communications jointly launched the aircraft with RB Deputy Chairman Dermot Mannion before naming the aircraft in a “Bunga Rampai” ceremony.

Brunei’s national carrier made history by being the first airline in Southeast Asia to operate the Dreamliner, touted as an aircraft providing an unrivalled passenger experience while breaking technological ground with environmental-friendly features and efficient operations.

Dubbed by RB the Betterfly, Boeing‘s long-haul aircraft is said to produce 20 per cent less emissions with lower fuel consumption, allowing it to fly farther while reducing its carbon footprint. Perhaps more importantly for a small commercial airline like RB, the Dreamliner is built to please the traveller.

YB Pehin Dato Haji Abdullah toured the Dreamliner’s interior, accompanied by Mannion and Boeing Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific and India Dr Dinesh A Keskar, testing out the purported comfort of seats and facilities in business and economy class.

The visibly delighted minister told The Brunei Times that the plane was “refreshingly different”.

“The safety requirement is up to the Civil Aviation to ensure through various standards. But for the passenger, they are more interested in the comfort level and certainly it is magnificent,” the minister said.

Having already secured a long-term B787 engineering partnership with Air France/KLM to support itsDreamliner operations worldwide, the tone for RB’s ambitions is decidedly set. And with maiden flights scheduled to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur later this week, as well as the launch on December 1 of same time daily Dreamliner services to London Heathrow via Dubai, RB can finally dare to dream.

The Brunei Times

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