Bonza Airline Discussion

[Saab34]

Hopefully they can hold OTP together that’s the biggest thing in my book if I was to use them. Which is why I never used Tiger once they got 737s, I remember OTP sunk to the high 50s at its worst. The 737 fleet had a 0% OTP on many days.

They did say in the press release they have one ‘spare’ 737 to help which is interesting.

 

[Mattg]

Sure. One day post COVID I will see that phrase without laughing

Cheers skip

Please know that I didn't have Gladys in mind when I wrote that. I can't stress that enough.

(I really hope I haven't derailed this thread. Now, back to Bonza...)

 

[henrus]

2x 737s weekly WTB-TSV has me gobsmacked. How is that going to work as a leisure route? TL currently flies 2x E170s WTB-CNS, but CNS attracts maybe 4x the leisure traffic that TSV does.

TL used to operate wtb-tsv, it was cut due to covid but lasted a few years.

Airnorth to operate new services between Toowoomba – Townsville – Airnorth

Airnorth is pleased to announce that it will commence direct jet services between Toowoomba (Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport) and Townsville, with onward connections to and from Darwin* from 28 November 2016. Three return flights each week will operate every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from...

www.airnorth.com.au

 

[eastwest101]

TL used to operate wtb-tsv, it was cut due to covid but lasted a few years.

Airnorth to operate new services between Toowoomba – Townsville – Airnorth

Airnorth is pleased to announce that it will commence direct jet services between Toowoomba (Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport) and Townsville, with onward connections to and from Darwin* from 28 November 2016. Three return flights each week will operate every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from...

www.airnorth.com.au

Probably better to think of those routes as defense force charters, WTB, TSV and DRW some of the larger defence force bases on the east coast, plus maybe a little bit of resource industry FIFO workforce movement, but as other say, a B737 is probably too much aircraft for that route.

 

[jakeseven7]

Hopefully they can hold OTP together that’s the biggest thing in my book if I was to use them. Which is why I never used Tiger once they got 737s, I remember OTP sunk to the high 50s at its worst. The 737 fleet had a 0% OTP on many days.

They did say in the press release they have one ‘spare’ 737 to help which is interesting.

But it OTP with Bonza and their target market won’t really matter, it’s infrequent leisure not business travel…

 

[jb747]

OTP is a great driver for safety.

Oh, sorry, I meant to say the exact opposite.

 

[flydoc]

An article about Bonza on the ABC site this morning. Lost of quotes from "Respected aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas"

It does seem that Bonza is indeed a lot smarter than Rex in the self promotion area at least.

Can Australia's new budget airline soar where others have failed?

A respected aviation expert says the company's proven business model and regional tourist destinations will change the way Australians travel.

www.abc.net.au

“Evidence globally shows that when you do connect to towns or locations that have not previously been connected directly, then you triple the traffic on that particular sector."

A direct quote of GT, from the article. Oddly worded I thought.
You think you know what he’s saying, then you read it again and

 

[jakeseven7]

“Evidence globally shows that when you do connect to towns or locations that have not previously been connected directly, then you triple the traffic on that particular sector."

A direct quote of GT, from the article. Oddly worded I thought.
You think you know what he’s saying, then you read it again and

Lol Triple zero…

Man, Virgin, Rex and Qantas (and all the airline that failed before them) must be super stupid operators not to know about this triple zero rule!

 

[Harrison_133]

TL used to operate wtb-tsv, it was cut due to covid but lasted a few years.

TL are still operating TSV-WTB at the moment, as well as TSV-OOL. Most of the flights continue to/from DRW. They’d be feeling the squeeze if Bonza do indeed launch but probably have more suitable aircraft. When I flew Airnorth TSV-OOL, at least half the plane was continuing on from DRW so they can obviously stimulate some through traffic without having to rely just on the local market. Hopefully Bonza’s break even LF is low, or 186 seats will be a lot to fill on point to point routes between regional destinations.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Lol Triple zero…

Man, Virgin, Rex and Qantas (and all the airline that failed before them) must be super stupid operators not to know about this triple zero rule!

Just to play devils Advocate..Coles+Woolies had the same sentiment when Aldi entered the market, laughing off the suggestion of only running a single brand of product line. Yet here we are more than two decades later and even they now push their self-branded product as the primary product now.

 

[HS-TQE]

An article about Bonza on the ABC site this morning. Lost of quotes from "Respected aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas"

It does seem that Bonza is indeed a lot smarter than Rex in the self promotion area at least.

Can Australia's new budget airline soar where others have failed?

A respected aviation expert says the company's proven business model and regional tourist destinations will change the way Australians travel.

www.abc.net.au

A quote from the (in)famous Geoff Thomas

"They're employing a model that has been proven to work in the United States by an airline called Allegiant, also in Europe by an airline called Ryanair and Jet 2,"

Just because it does work in the US and Europe doesn't necessarily mean it may (or may not) work in Australia. Australia has a sparsely spread out population which would put question marks whether the point to point operation may work on 737s, let alone the Turbo-Props or the Embraer/Bombarier Regional 'Jungle Jets'.

 

[dajop]

All I say is good on them for trying something new. There are some sort of reasonable sized populations outside of the main cities that don’t really have access to cheaper fares, or at least without long drives first.

Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It might not but let’s see. And very sensible trying to expand the market than going up against Qanstar or Virgin. Also you don’t need quite so many $$$ to market your services to regional areas, as compared to trying to break into the capital city market. Although what they do to get PR in Melbourne will need to be smart and much better than Rex.

 

[HS-TQE]

It's also interesting that Bonza aren't advertising in the far northern suburbs of Brisbane to see MCY as an alternative, even though the MCY catchment is surrounded by the Noosa Shire, Gympie Regional and Moreton Bay Regional (Caboolture, North Lakes, Redcliffe) areas

 

[SeatBackForward]

All I say is good on them for trying something new. There are some sort of reasonable sized populations outside of the main cities that don’t really have access to cheaper fares, or at least without long drives first.

Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It might not but let’s see. And very sensible trying to expand the market than going up against Qanstar or Virgin. Also you don’t need quite so many $$$ to market your services to regional areas, as compared to trying to break into the capital city market. Although what they do to get PR in Melbourne will need to be smart and much better than Rex.

Plus the past two years has really shown that remote working is feasible and opened up a lot of regional centres for people disenfranchised with capital city living. Still need to attend meetings occasionally? then once a day is probably enough

 

[Saab34]

From the northern suburbs like North Lakes and Caboolture, it’s only a extra 10-15min vs driving to BNE. You would probably hit the checkin counter at the same time with less distance from the carpark.

Car parking prices seem the same as BNE.

 

[jase05]

Anyone know why they chose MEL instead of AVV?
I would have thought AVV would be chomping at the bit to attract new services down there

 

[Saab34]

Tullamarine would probably be for maintenance/engineering. Certainly is no engineering at all at MCY. He did say they are only running MEL/MCY for maintenance and aircraft cycling bases.

Not sure who is getting the local maintenance contract.

 

[dajop]

I’d also assume they were able to negotiate a reasonable deal with the operators of MEL, who have always been quite aggressive to prevent leakage to AVV.

Then if you think that AVV should be considered Geelong Airport, then serving Geelong-MCY makes some commercial sense, but Geelong/Bundaberg, Gladstone, Toowoomba etc would be certain to fail. ( IMHO the trouble with AVV as MEL’s secondary airport is not the fact extra 18 mins it takes from the Bolte Bridge turnoff vs MEL but the risk that those 18mins could turn into 78…, which conversely makes it appealing as an airport for the people of Geelong).

 

[AIRwin]

ACCC issues warning against QF and VA:

Warning for Qantas and Virgin about flights

The boss of the Australia’s competition watchdog has warned Qantas and Virgin that they will be watched “very carefully” to make sure they don’t block two new airlines entering the market.

www.news.com.au

 

[jase05]

ACCC issues warning against QF and VA:

Warning for Qantas and Virgin about flights

The boss of the Australia’s competition watchdog has warned Qantas and Virgin that they will be watched “very carefully” to make sure they don’t block two new airlines entering the market.

www.news.com.au

I’m sure QF and VA are quaking in their boots at that grandstanding clown Sims and his paper Tiger organisation