2 weeks Ago By James Pearson
Until 1984, the Southeast Asian country of Brunei was a British protectorate. As such, it is hardly surprising that London is the only European city that Royal Brunei serves, although it flew to Frankfurt until 2007. The airline will fly to London Heathrow and London Gatwick during the peak summer season.
While flights to Heathrow will continue to operate via Dubai, they'll be nonstop to Gatwick. Helped by Heathrow’s renowned chronic slot shortage, Gatwick—which also has lower fees/charges and strong brand awareness—has recently secured many new airlines. In 2025 alone, Royal Brunei will be one of six airlines to join its portfolio, alongside Air Sierra Leone ( a new operator ), Beijing Capital ( now announced ), Gulf Air , Kenya Airways, and Uganda Airlines .
Of course, some airlines obtain more Heathrow slots, such as Oman Air, which has increased its frequency to 11 weekly in the coming winter and to double daily next summer . Royal Brunei Adds Nonstop Gatwick Flights The airline's first London service was in 1990. It flew to Gatwick using the Boeing 757-200 (!) and 767-300ER, stopping en route in Singapore and Dubai.
Flights shifted to Heathrow via Dubai in 1991, and it continues to serve Europe's busiest airport in that way. However, after more than a third of a century, Royal Brunei will return to Gatwick in a very time-limited way. It will serve Gatwick weekly for barely a month, starting on July 22 and finishing on August 19 .
There will only be five round-trip flights for the peak season, presumably for school holidays. There is currently no indication that it will be extended. Royal Brunei serves Heathrow thrice-weekly, down from daily before the pandemic.
Returning to Gatwick will partly plug the capacity gap. The airline must be confident it will be worthwhile because it is a very long way for such a limited operation. The schedule is as follows, with all times local.
On a great circle basis and avoiding detours, Bandar flights will cover 4% more distance than Singapore Airlines' Gatwick service. Yet Royal Brunei's maximum block time of 15h 25m will be 14% higher. This suggests it'll avoid Russian airspace and fly through the Middle East, adding additional time, fuel burn, emissions, etc.
Direction Days Times (local) Block time Equipment Bandar to Gatwick Tuesdays 10:00-18:00 15h 00m 787-8 Gatwick to Bandar Tuesdays 20:00-18:25 15h 25m 787-8 Heathrow Flights Are Via Dubai, But They Were Previously Nonstop Since 1991, Royal Brunei has primarily served Heathrow with fifth-freedom rights via Dubai. (I believe it briefly flew via Abu Dhabi.) However, the very long route became nonstop in October 2018 aboard the 787-8, the carrier's sole widebody type nowadays.
Flights rose daily and were timed to connect to/from Melbourne. The airline offered one of the quickest ways to reach Victoria's capital. In late 2022, the Dubai stopover returned, with frequencies falling to thrice weekly.
Despite the increased time and expenses, the stop (and lower frequency) must have significantly improved the route's success, at least for traffic and loads. Historically, Royal Brunei was usually the cheapest nonstop option between London and Dubai, although the 01:05 departure from the UAE is unpleasant. For the first time since 2022, London will have nonstop Brunei flights again .
Most of them were long-haul. Bandar Will Temporarily Be Gatwick's Longest Route Based on the great circle, it will cover 6,094 nautical miles (11,286 km) each way. It is Gatwick's longest nonstop service, even before the distance-increasing detour is considered.
More than this, Cirium Diio data shows it will be Gatwick's longest nonstop route in 20 years , and possibly forever. Norwegian's Gatwick to Buenos Aires service, which was flown until February 2020, was the second-longest market. Gatwick's five longest routes in the two peak summer months are as follows.
Bandar-Gatwick will be the UK's third-longest nonstop offering when all UK routes are considered , behind two Heathrow entries: Qantas from Perth and British Airways to Santiago de Chile. Nautical miles (km) To Gatwick to/from..
. (in July/August) Comments 6,094 (11,286) Bandar Royal Brunei (begins July 2025) 5,873 (10,877) Singapore Singapore Airlines (started in June 2024) 5,253 (9,729) Mauritius Air Mauritius (began in October 2023) and British Airways 5,138 (9,516) Guangzhou China Southern (started in June 2024) 5,006 (9,271) Shanghai Pudong Air China (began in June 2023) and China Eastern (started in June 2023.
