A Royal Brunei Airlines 787-8 on the Boeing factory flight line at Everett – Photo: Bernie Leighton
A new 787-8 rolled out of the Boeing Everett paint hangar recently that represented two new milestones – the aircraft is the first 787 headed to southeast Asia, and first delivered to Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA). Even better, it’s the first Boeing jet to sport RBA’s new livery.
Royal Brunei, based in the small southeast-Asian Sultanate of Brunei, has been around for quite some time. The airline formed in 1974 with a fleet of two Boeing 737-200s serving the surrounding region (Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia). As the airline expanded over time, so did the size of aircraft that they operated. They now run a regional Airbus A320-family fleet and a long-haul fleet of ex-Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200ERs. But soon they will be adding the 787 Dreamliner to their fleet.
A Royal Brunei Airlines 787-8 on the Boeing factory flight line at Everett – Photo: Bernie Leighton
The new livery debuted on an A320 in November 2012, beginning the re-branding process in time for their new 787s. RBA has four Dreamliners on order; the first is due to enter service in the next few months. According to RBA deputy chairman Dermot Mannion, “over the next year, we will be redefining the RBA flying experience, starting with our classic-styled new livery and logo. This redefinition is not merely an advertisement campaign, but rather a long-term commitment to our passengers to create a family-like, peaceful, and tranquil atmosphere with high class customer service.”
As an Australian plane spotter and traveler, Royal Brunei holds a special place in my heart. Seeing the bright yellow wide-bodies flying into Brisbane each day stoked a yearning to fly off to tropical destinations in Asia, or like so many other Australians, fly to Europe. At the time, Royal Brunei had the cheapest flights to Europe (prior to the fare wars that began once the middle east carriers jumped into the market).
A Royal Brunei 777-200ER sporting the older livery at Brisbane Airport – Photo: Mal Muir
Although the new livery is sleek, clean, and definitely modern, it’s a stark difference from the old bold, brightly-colored livery. Do you like the new one better?
That tailfin logo is presently the worst on Planet Earth… and just when I thought there wasn’t anything worse than the new AA.
Shame on BI for this marketing tragedy.
The old livery was better.
The tail is what bothers me the most. RB- is the IATA code for Syrian Air! Not sure why anyone’d want to go prancing around with the wrong airline plastered on their tail- let alone one from a pariah state!
At least they got rid of the yellow belly
Whoever had the audacity to design.this new livery needs to have his or her head examined. The official Brunei Govt Crest is Red and not black which denotes mourning colors. M quite sure no discussion were ever made with the Adat Istiadat office n to think the. Irish Deputy Chairman n the present BOD had the Gaul to even present to HM office for approval is quite unbecoming, let alone designing this design something that a 10 year old could easily do.
It seems the crest and RB on the tail are brown, not black. Look at the logo/crest on their website.
I agree with the comments posted. The new livery will detract rather than attract prospective passengers.
Its fortunate they debut it on the 787..It makes even the mundane livery look extroidinary !!
Well, it is the debut of the new livery on a Boeing plane. It has already been put on an Airbus A320.
David
The fuselage looks nice and fresh, but the tail design is simply horrible. As mentioned above, RB is the IATA-code for Syrian Arab Airlines. But it’s not just that. From a designer’s point of view it’s a bad design as well. The crest looks misplaced. Something that could have been avoided by putting RBA on the tail. Personally, I think a big crest without RB on the tail woulld have been the best option.
prefer the old one. simple does not mean better everytime