Bonza Airline Discussion

Exciting news for the people who live near the airports being served. As a MEL resident, I can see myself trying them out.

I fully expect the route map to be adjusted depending on which routes do well.

Also makes me wonder if Jetstar will conveniently start service on some of these routes.
 
Probably not a airline I’ll try but good luck to them and hope they make a go of it. Some interesting routes and would be exciting times for those that live in areas/routes that have been shunned up until now
 
Places like CBR, SYD, DRW, ADL and PER completely missing from the route network, actually 5 entire states/territories absent from the network, WA is understandable but some of the other omissions seem curious, looks like they will be concentrating those B737 Max's on reasonably short sectors and flying the wings off them with lots of short sectors, some very dubious routes there. Of the TSV routes described I could only see MCY working, almost looks like a hub and spoke operation out of MCY so they could be a viable option for people traveling xx_-MCY-YYY but I'm not sure they will have the frequency and timing to make this work.
 
Certainly some bold choices. Maroochydore to Mildura….really? A 737 into Port Macquarie? I wasn’t expecting it to look this radical. Good news for these regional airports, it’s exciting to be getting this new service even if it looks a bit unviable. Hopefully they can find some things that stick.

It will be interesting to see how they go against the incumbents on MCY-MEL. Maybe it will give them a taste of how ‘normal’ routes work with their model. If they perform well on a route like that, while the others are struggling, maybe they could pivot their network to take the Tiger market if Rex aren’t willing to do anything to make it theirs.
 
Bonza is going to kill Air North's Toowoomba operations. I can't see that being great long term.
 
There is a 11am launch event today which they will also release the MAX cabin details and so on.
 
I'd give them a go, Gladstone especially.
Any word on which terminal in MEL they'll fly from? I'm assuming T4.
 
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MCY's owners (Palisades) will probably going to have to team up with SCRC (the land owners) about co-funding the upgrade of the terminal, even if it's on a interim arrangement to fit more people in the waiting area.

But at the same time, there's also the 'swing' international gate (the one used for the NZ flights for 2-3 days a week), and used for domestic departures on the other times.
 
Looks like Bonza may likely be trying to do a scissor-hub operation at MCY/Sunshine Coast.

It would not surprise me if Bonza tries to offer xx_-MCY-xx_ fares, although as an LCC, Bonza would be operationally in the same mould as Tiger, which would mean collecting bags in MCY and then walking back to check-in to drop their bags for their onward flights.
 
australianaviation.com.au

Revealed: Bonza will fly 25 routes to 16 destinations

Australia's Leading News Source in Aviation
australianaviation.com.au australianaviation.com.au
Its a well thought out network, essentially short-circuiting the main hubs of the capital cities except Melbourne and offering Jet service which will counter a lot of turbo prop based services and F100/75 routes. Will be good in Queensland during the peak tourist months May- Sept but outside of that will be interesting to see if they make adjustments. We really havent seen a launch product offer a network like this before.
 
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Are they really going to fill

~360 seats per week year round Albury-MCY
~360 seats Mildura-MCY?
Etc? Even with “connections” - noting with the frequencies the onward connection will be pretty small.

(The Australian Aviation article gives a nice route and frequency summary).

Will be fascinating to see if they really can stimulate a market the others have ”missed”, or whether that even exists at all….
 
docjames said:
Are they really going to fill

~360 seats per week year round Albury-MCY
~360 seats Mildura-MCY?
Etc? Even with “connections” - noting with the frequencies the onward connection will be pretty small.

(The Australian Aviation article gives a nice route and frequency summary).

Will be fascinating to see if they really can stimulate a market the others have ”missed”, or whether that even exists at all….
Click to expand...
Yes it will be interesting to watch - first victims will no doubt be what remains on the regional train and bus services. They dont have (Yet) any partnerships, alliances etc so they are only offering a limited domestic network so i dont think they will get much off Qantas or even Virgin that offer a far more integrated product, still you would think the Dash 8 , Saab 340B and Fokker stuff will be a competitor.
Medium to long term the Bonza product would anecdotally be a good fit with a Rex or Virgin in a merger/takeover.
 
aikman said:
Exciting news for the people who live near the airports being served. As a MEL resident, I can see myself trying them out.

I fully expect the route map to be adjusted depending on which routes do well.

Also makes me wonder if Jetstar will conveniently start service on some of these routes.
Click to expand...
I certainly hope JQ do start some new routes - although they need to tread carefully with the ACCC prowling around .
 
I would think a RexJet/Bonza merger may be more ideal for the PE companies that own Bonza and REX, rather than the larger PE rival that is Bain (Virgin) taking over either.

The tricky part however is what a hypothetical combined carrier would do with the 'older' ex-VA 738 leases.
 

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