Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) is set to spread its wings even further when five Boeing Dreamliner 787s join its fleet in 2012.
This was confirmed by Mr Robert Yang, the Chief Executive Officer of RBA (top photo), in an interview with the Weekend Bulletin, on the sidelines of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) 54th Assembly of Presidents at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.
"We have, on order, five 787s, and we hope to welcome them sometime in 2012," he said, adding that this was in line with the airline's strategy to expand prudently and at the same time sustain an effective corporation. "We are on track."
According to earlier reports, RBA had planned to welcome its Boeing Dreamliner 787s in the Sultanate by 2009. However, it failed to materialise due to a number of reasons such as shortage of parts and difficulty in bringing together fuselage and wing structures from Japan, Italy and US.
Speaking during yesterday's media forum, Mr Riaz Moiz, the Executive Vice President of Commercial & Planning at RBA, disclosed that the airline was continuously looking at possible options (destinations) around a "seven-hour radius around Brunei".
According to him, destinations around North Asia that have "always been under consideration" include Tokyo, Taipei and Incheon.
On RBA's fleet expansion, he noted that RBA was currently operating with a 10-aircraft fleet and that the new 787 aircraft would "be more for replacements". He added that the airline was finalised the exact dates when the planes would be coming to the Sultanate.
Commenting on the AAPA 54th Assembly, Mr Yang said: "It's gone great... The airlines have seen some growth and we're optimistic about the coming months and next year. We're now much stronger now and able to tackle all the industry issues as mentioned during the press conference."
"RBA is a strong supporter of AAPA, and it's been an honour to chair it this year," he added.
Meanwhile, at the conclusion of the AAPA 54th Assembly of Presidents yesterday, the Association's Director General, Andrew Herdman, warned that the "post-recessionary airline world still presents a minefield full of regulatory threats to the industry's long term interests".
The need to face up to such major industry challenges is reflected in a series of "strong resolutions" that were adopted by the members of the AAPA upon of the conclusion of the Assembly yesterday.
"Governments in Europe and the US, as well as others here in the Asia Pacific region, continue to bombard airlines with well-intentioned, but often ill-conceived, policies that are actually counter productive to every effort that airlines make to improve efficiency, value for money and overall passenger service experience," Herdman said.
The Association's Director General stressed that governments need to rethink unwarranted and ineffective policies on environment, taxation, as well as passenger services.
"Looking to the long term, the prevailing shift of influence and commercial dynamism towards Asia should result in carriers from the region playing an increasingly important role in shaping the future of the global air transport industry," he added. "Beyond achieving further commercial success, the region's airlines are committed to concerted action and taking leadership on global regulatory issues."
The resolutions that resulted from the AAPA Assembly yesterday fell into five categories, namely 'Safety', 'Security', 'Environment', 'Taxation' and 'Passenger Services'.
Under the resolution on safety, the AAPA calls on governments "to properly resource and support their regulatory authorities with the aim of achieving full ICAO compliance", while at the same time "positively considering the creation of a cooperative Asia Pacific regional body to provide enhanced safety oversight and guidance to national airworthiness authorities."
On security, the AAPA said: "Whilst always remaining vigilant to terrorist threats, regulatory agencies often react too quickly to incidents by issuing nationally focused aviation security requirements that are costly yet ineffective in achieving improvements to global security."
Increasingly complex, onerous and inconsistent aviation security procedures reportedly continue to frustrate the travelling public.
On environment, the AAPA resolution called on governments to actively support efforts through ICAO to develop a global framework and agreed principles to be applied to the implementation of market based measures, and to refrain from introducing duplicative measures, including the imposition of arbitrary taxes under the guise of green initiatives.
On taxation, the Association called on governments to carefully consider the overall economic effects of putting further financial strain on the travelling public and the air transport industry. It added that the governments should refrain from the introduction of unjustified, discriminatory and arbitrary tax increases that are counterproductive to the shared goals of increased societal mobility and global trade growth.
On passenger services, the AAPA's resolution called on governments "to refrain from introducing legislation that would act as a disincentive to airlines to compete freely on customer service standards and also ensure that mandated regulations related to passenger processing and treatment are designed from the outset to be practical, cost-effective, efficient and sustainable".
This was confirmed by Mr Robert Yang, the Chief Executive Officer of RBA (top photo), in an interview with the Weekend Bulletin, on the sidelines of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) 54th Assembly of Presidents at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.
"We have, on order, five 787s, and we hope to welcome them sometime in 2012," he said, adding that this was in line with the airline's strategy to expand prudently and at the same time sustain an effective corporation. "We are on track."
According to earlier reports, RBA had planned to welcome its Boeing Dreamliner 787s in the Sultanate by 2009. However, it failed to materialise due to a number of reasons such as shortage of parts and difficulty in bringing together fuselage and wing structures from Japan, Italy and US.
Speaking during yesterday's media forum, Mr Riaz Moiz, the Executive Vice President of Commercial & Planning at RBA, disclosed that the airline was continuously looking at possible options (destinations) around a "seven-hour radius around Brunei".
According to him, destinations around North Asia that have "always been under consideration" include Tokyo, Taipei and Incheon.
On RBA's fleet expansion, he noted that RBA was currently operating with a 10-aircraft fleet and that the new 787 aircraft would "be more for replacements". He added that the airline was finalised the exact dates when the planes would be coming to the Sultanate.
Commenting on the AAPA 54th Assembly, Mr Yang said: "It's gone great... The airlines have seen some growth and we're optimistic about the coming months and next year. We're now much stronger now and able to tackle all the industry issues as mentioned during the press conference."
"RBA is a strong supporter of AAPA, and it's been an honour to chair it this year," he added.
Meanwhile, at the conclusion of the AAPA 54th Assembly of Presidents yesterday, the Association's Director General, Andrew Herdman, warned that the "post-recessionary airline world still presents a minefield full of regulatory threats to the industry's long term interests".
The need to face up to such major industry challenges is reflected in a series of "strong resolutions" that were adopted by the members of the AAPA upon of the conclusion of the Assembly yesterday.
"Governments in Europe and the US, as well as others here in the Asia Pacific region, continue to bombard airlines with well-intentioned, but often ill-conceived, policies that are actually counter productive to every effort that airlines make to improve efficiency, value for money and overall passenger service experience," Herdman said.
The Association's Director General stressed that governments need to rethink unwarranted and ineffective policies on environment, taxation, as well as passenger services.
"Looking to the long term, the prevailing shift of influence and commercial dynamism towards Asia should result in carriers from the region playing an increasingly important role in shaping the future of the global air transport industry," he added. "Beyond achieving further commercial success, the region's airlines are committed to concerted action and taking leadership on global regulatory issues."
The resolutions that resulted from the AAPA Assembly yesterday fell into five categories, namely 'Safety', 'Security', 'Environment', 'Taxation' and 'Passenger Services'.
Under the resolution on safety, the AAPA calls on governments "to properly resource and support their regulatory authorities with the aim of achieving full ICAO compliance", while at the same time "positively considering the creation of a cooperative Asia Pacific regional body to provide enhanced safety oversight and guidance to national airworthiness authorities."
On security, the AAPA said: "Whilst always remaining vigilant to terrorist threats, regulatory agencies often react too quickly to incidents by issuing nationally focused aviation security requirements that are costly yet ineffective in achieving improvements to global security."
Increasingly complex, onerous and inconsistent aviation security procedures reportedly continue to frustrate the travelling public.
On environment, the AAPA resolution called on governments to actively support efforts through ICAO to develop a global framework and agreed principles to be applied to the implementation of market based measures, and to refrain from introducing duplicative measures, including the imposition of arbitrary taxes under the guise of green initiatives.
On taxation, the Association called on governments to carefully consider the overall economic effects of putting further financial strain on the travelling public and the air transport industry. It added that the governments should refrain from the introduction of unjustified, discriminatory and arbitrary tax increases that are counterproductive to the shared goals of increased societal mobility and global trade growth.
On passenger services, the AAPA's resolution called on governments "to refrain from introducing legislation that would act as a disincentive to airlines to compete freely on customer service standards and also ensure that mandated regulations related to passenger processing and treatment are designed from the outset to be practical, cost-effective, efficient and sustainable".
Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin Weekend
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