Royal Brunei Airlines and Sarawak Tourism Board signs Memorandum of Agreement

Royal Brunei Airlines and Sarawak Tourism Board signs Memorandum of Agreement

15 November 2018, 12:06 PM

Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) to collaborate and stimulate the inflow of visitors between Brunei and Kuching and to Brunei and Sarawak from RB’s network, on 15th November 2018.

The signing of the MOA follows the announcement by the Brunei flag carrier that it is re-commencing the capital to capital connection from Bandar Seri Begawan to Kuching and vice versa on 28 December 2018. RB will provide the connectivity to the capital city of the state of Sarawak with twice weekly flights, increasing to four weekly flights from 3 February 2019. The journey time between the two capitals is just 1hr 15mins.

The MOA was signed by RB’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Karam Chand; and Puan Sharzede Datuk Hj Salleh Askor, STB’s Chief Executive Officer. Present to witness the signing and exchange of the MOA documents were guest of honour, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali Bin Apong, Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism; and Yang Berhormat Datuk Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Sarawak Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports.

“We are very pleased to collaborate with the Sarawak Tourism Board and have a common objective of growing the tourism pie for both Brunei and Sarawak. RB’s guests can make a quick connection to Kuching via Brunei International Airport and vice versa. The direct flights give us an exciting opportunity to market single and dual destinations packages in all the cities we service and brings the world that much closer to the beautiful city of Kuching. With Kuching added to our route network, our guests will enjoy greater access to the island of Borneo and the many attractions on offer,” said Mr Chand.

Sarawak Tourism Board’s Chief Executive Officer, Sharzede Datu Hj Salleh Askor said that Sarawak Tourism Board was excited to welcome one of the most loved airlines in the world back to Sarawak.

“The signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Sarawak Tourism Board and Royal Brunei Airlines bears great importance to both our capitals. Firstly, it symbolises the start of the many collaborative efforts between our two capitals which will bring about sustainable socio-economic growth for Sarawak and Brunei with tourism as a significant contributor, as well as strengthen the friendship between our people. Secondly, the Sarawak-Brunei tourism collaboration especially with the strengthened connectivity between both our destinations will increase our competitiveness and attractiveness as twin tourism destinations to capture tourists around the region and the world,” she added.

The connection provided by Royal Brunei will make Bandar Seri Begawan an important gateway for Sarawak. With the flights the journey between the two capitals will be dramatically reduced from some 14 hours by road, to a mere one hour and fifteen minutes. It makes Kuching more accessible to our focus markets including Melbourne (Australia), Shanghai (China) London (United Kingdom) which augurs well for the marketing of the destination” she continued.

Flights from Brunei to Kuching will commence on 28 December 2018. Royal Brunei Airlines first flew to Kuching on 15 May 1975.

The new route will be operated using RB’s A320 aircraft as follows:

For more information visit please visit www.flyroyalbrunei.com