KEY POINTS:
Royal Brunei Airlines is now flying daily to and from Auckland.
The Southeast Asian carrier increased its Auckland flightsfrom three times weekly to dailylast Monday, using a BoeingB767-300.
The airline has been flying toAuckland since October 2003,serving Brunei and beyond via Brisbane.
The daily flights will incorporate a new thrice-weekly direct service to Bandar Seri Begawan, while the flights on the other four days will continue to operate via Brisbane.
Royal Brunei said connecting to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta was now easier through the direct service, while the service via Brisbane enabled connections primarily to London.
"The number of passengers travelling between Auckland and Bandar Seri Begawan via Brisbane has increased to a level where webelieve we can provide a betterservice to our passengers by operating direct," said chief executive Ray Sayer.
Auckland Airport chief executive Don Huse said it was pleasing to see the development at a time when some carriers serving New Zealand were reducing their capacity.
"Royal Brunei provides an important link to and from the tourism and trade markets of the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong as well as providing an additional 205 seats for the hugely popular and competitive transtasman route between NewZealand and Queensland."
