BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Shenzhen Airways has launched a brand new route between Brunei and Shenzhen, establishing a direct air hyperlink between the sultanate and one among southern China’s main financial hubs.
The service, which started on September 29, is anticipated to strengthen tourism and connectivity between Brunei and China whereas giving travellers from each markets extra direct entry to one another.
The brand new connection comes as Shenzhen prepares to host the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Assembly this November, whereas Brunei gears up for Go to Brunei 2027 — a nationwide tourism marketing campaign focusing on 900,000 worldwide customer arrivals to the sultanate.
Anthony Lim, director of APG Brunei, which represents Shenzhen Airways and different worldwide carriers within the sultanate, stated the air hyperlink will even join Bruneian travellers to a wider community throughout China, together with Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Xinjiang.
The service will initially function on a constitution foundation for 3 months, with 4 flights per week, earlier than transitioning to a few scheduled flights per week.
Rebuilding China-Brunei tourism hyperlinks
Lim stated traveller demand from China stays robust, however direct connectivity has been a key problem because the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese language guests have continued travelling to Brunei, though many have been arriving by way of regional hubs equivalent to Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Singapore, he stated.
Earlier than the pandemic, Brunei was related to a number of Chinese language cities by way of Royal Brunei Airways. For the reason that nationwide service resumed direct companies to mainland China in 2023, nevertheless, its community has been restricted to Beijing, Nanning and Hangzhou.
Brunei recorded roughly 74,000 Chinese language guests in 2019, earlier than arrivals plunged in the course of the pandemic. The market has since recovered, reaching 45,858 guests in 2025.
Lim stated the brand new route may assist deliver Chinese language customer numbers nearer to pre-pandemic ranges by broadening entry to Brunei from totally different components of China.
“We hope by way of this Shenzhen Airways networking, we are able to promote extra incoming tourism to Brunei from totally different provinces of China,” he stated.
