Malindo Air (Kuala Lumpur International) will base two newly added ATR72-600s at Bandar Seri Begawan to operate regional flights on behalf of Royal Brunei Airlines (BI, Bandar Seri Begawan).
The two ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprops will be branded as RB Link and will operate to "five new and two existing" destinations across Borneo, Royal Brunei Airlines CEO Karam Chand said in a press release. The ACMI contract was initially signed for two years.
Currently, within Borneo, RBA serves Kota Kinabalu 12x weekly using A320-200neo aircraft. In Borneo, it also operates 4x weekly to Kuching. Both routes will shortly be served with the ATRs in addition to the existing jet services. The Bruneian flag carrier plans to announce five new destinations across Borneo for the RB Link service in August 2019.
The Blue Swan Daily touted Bintulu and Sandakan as potential new destinations.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, RBA currently operates two A320-200s, seven A320neo, and five B787-8s. As such, RBA is limited in serving thinner regional routes by the lack of regional jets or turboprops.
The Blue Swan Daily has further reported that Malindo Air also plans to add a third new ATR72-600 on top of twelve it already operates. This ATR - Avions de Transport Régional unit will be based out of Kuala Lumpur Subang. The airline, a member of the Lion Air Group, is hoping to shortly launch flights connecting the Malaysian capital with Singapore Seletar. It already secured traffic rights and is awaiting permission from Changi Airport Group.
Currently, Singapore Seletar is exclusively served by Firefly (FY, Penang), a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, which flies 42x weekly from Kuala Lumpur Subang.
Malindo Air is also planning to add three B737-800s transferred from its Indonesian sister carrier Batik Air (ID, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta). According to the ch-aviation fleets module, it already operates twenty-three -800s and six B737-900(ER)s.
Besides the base at Brunei Seri Begawan airport, Malindo Air will also shortly expand international jet services to Varanasi, Sydney Kingsford Smith (via Denpasar), and Da Nang.
