RBA unfazed by imminent entry of Tiger

ROYAL Brunei Airlines (RBA), the sultanate's national carrier, has no plans of altering its flight frequency into Singapore despite the imminent arrival of budget carrier Tiger Airways. It has not announced possible changes to airfares either.

"As of now, there is no plan to change our strategy. We are still looking into it," Hj Rozman Hj Junaidi, RBA vice president of corporate communications, told The Brunei Times.

RBA flies daily to Singapore, mostly in the comfort of its Airbus 320 aircraft.

Corporate flyers are more likely to still prefer the convenience of regular airline services as opposed to the cheaper alternative of a no-frills airline, travel companies surmise.

As Brunei awaits the arrival of Tiger Airways' healthy roar, however, travel agencies happily welcome the newcomer.

Foo Chuan Ting, general manager of Century Travel Centre, said that the agency might slightly lose out on sales seeing that more Bruneians are becoming confident with the security of online bookings which provide the added bonus of low airfares.

However, he said the anticipated entry of Tiger, which Brunei has allowed in its skies, is a welcome development.

"It is welcome in the sense that it will create more travel in the country and like most travel agencies, we are looking into selling Tiger tickets as well at the charge of an extra $20 for service fee," he said in an interview with The Brunei Times.

Conventional airlines still have the advantage of time saving over its cheaper counterparts.

"If you were to travel on Tiger Airways all the way to Australia, it might take you more than the usual eight hours of travel time on a normal airline," the travel agency general manager said, adding that comfort seekers are also less likely to make the change to cheaper airlines as most no-frill airlines use smaller aircraft.

Bruneian students who study overseas will definitely reap the benefits of the cheaper fares on offer, as will leisure travellers.

Tiger Airways flies to more than eight countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and one of Brunei's popular destinations for university education Australia.

At the moment, it has yet to be known when Tiger Airways' fleet of aircraft will touch down in Brunei or whether it will fly to other destinations (besides Singapore) from the sultanate without requiring a transit or connecting flight at Changi Airport in Singapore.

The Brunei Times