Bonza Airline Discussion

[Must...Fly!]

There was an article in The West about Bonza's plans in WA. It was fairly light on detail mentioning that there are negotiations in progress with Perth and other regional airports. Like with the eastern states they are looking at city pairs without existing flights. Also red eye transcontinental flights

Free marketing I guess. Unless there is a small regional airport near Bali they can use while undercutting the Indonesian airlines, I don't think there is a market for them there.

 

[FishFood]

Quote from The West article about potential routes (behind a paywall)

Unserviced routes within WA could be Busselton to Broome, while interstate routes could be Perth to Byron Bay or Broome to Adelaide. Broome International Airport general manager commercial Paul McSweeney said on Monday that the airport is “very interested to explore opportunities” with Bonza. Mr McSweeney added that Broome to Cairns was also a possibility.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Broome could work but only if you forget about staying there. It's not a destination for the budget conscious traveller...

 

[dajop]

Quote from The West article about potential routes (behind a paywall):

Unserviced routes within WA could be Busselton to Broome, while interstate routes could be Perth to Byron Bay or Broome to Adelaide. Broome International Airport general manager commercial Paul McSweeney said on Monday that the airport is “very interested to explore opportunities” with Bonza. Mr McSweeney added that Broome to Cairns was also a possibility.

I would have thought if there was speculation to be had, based on route announcements to date (and routes without competition) it wouldn't be much of a stretch to have PER-MCY as an obvious choice (for a redeye anyway). If I was to make a wild stab at another potential redeye - given route announcement patterns to date, I'd pick MEL-GET (seems to fit with BDB, GLT, TMW, ROK etc).

 

[Must...Fly!]

MEL-GET

VA couldn't get GET to work with a full domestic feed and F100s/F50s

 

[dajop]

VA couldn't get GET to work with a full domestic feed and F100s/F50s

But Bonza isn't even trying to emulate VA, and the space they plan to be operating is vastly different to VA. Need to shift paradigms to think about what Bonza is trying to do. I'm not saying MEL-GET would work, just speculating if they are heading west and doing redeyes it seems consistent with what they are attempting over east with their MEL services. 1 or 2 services a week in a pure leisure market is very different to trying to compete with QF on business traffic to PER and beyond.

 

[Must...Fly!]

But Bonza isn't even trying to emulate VA, and the space they plan to be operating is vastly different to VA. Need to shift paradigms to think about what Bonza is trying to do. I'm not saying MEL-GET would work, just speculating if they are heading west and doing redeyes it seems consistent with what they are attempting over east with their MEL services. 1 or 2 services a week in a pure leisure market is very different to trying to compete with QF on business traffic to PER and beyond.

In a world where Australia is the only place you can go, then I agree.

But the market Bonza are going after to places like GET aren't going to work. My suggestion is the low yield they want on board isn't the low yield places like GET need or want in their hotels.

 

[dairyfloss]

Broome could work but only if you forget about staying there. It's not a destination for the budget conscious traveller...

Was just thinking that... neither is a great budget destination, and for those that can afford to holiday at either end, who's going to fly Bonza?! I guess there's a subset that could care less about the journey, but hopefully Bonza is wiser than to build a route on that segment.

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[aikman]

The "half off" government subsidised fares to Broome sold out very quickly from memory. It suggests to me that there is demand for cheap transport even if the accommodation is not so cheap.

 

[Must...Fly!]

The "half off" government subsidised fares to Broome sold out very quickly from memory. It suggests to me that there is demand for cheap transport even if the accommodation is not so cheap.

Again, when WA was closed off from the rest of the country/world, it was one of a handful of places people could go with a small amount of confidence. It is not reflective of now.

 

[dairyfloss]

The "half off" government subsidised fares to Broome sold out very quickly from memory. It suggests to me that there is demand for cheap transport even if the accommodation is not so cheap.

True - but these people booked on full service carriers, at a lower price; That's just a great deal... It's not the same as there being demand for a low cost carrier

 

[jakeseven7]

But Bonza isn't even trying to emulate VA, and the space they plan to be operating is vastly different to VA.

Is it really THAT different though.... really?

 

[dajop]

Is it really THAT different though.... really?

Yes Bonza is basically the same, they'll be running 737s and targeting people who want to pay low fares.

Really the only differences are that Bonza won't have lounges, won't be trying to compete directly with Qantas or Jetstar, won't have a loyalty program with international partners, won't be operating multiple daily flights on most routes (instead 2-3 per week), won't be going after business travel and won't be serving most capital cities. Apart from this they are essentially the same as VA.

 

[jakeseven7]

Yes Bonza is basically the same, they'll be running 737s and targeting people who want to pay low fares.

I think you missed the point, at the end of the day how much lower can Bonza go to stimulate the market than VA did, in the first place - before you even get to overhead costs.

 

[jase05]

I’m not sure why people are getting upset with Bonza and almost willing them to fail. Good luck them for having a crack I say. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work

 

[jakeseven7]

I’m not sure why people are getting upset with Bonza and almost willing them to fail. Good luck them for having a crack I say. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work

I don't see anyone getting upset you must have a pretty low 'upset threshold'

Who really cares if they win or fail, its just business is my view.

 

[jase05]

I don't see anyone getting upset you must have a pretty low 'upset threshold'

Who really cares if they win or fail, its just business is my view.

It’s just not on here but hearing plenty of naysayers and armchair experts writing them off before they have been started.
As you said it’s a business and if they fail they fail but no harm trying

 

[dajop]

I think you missed the point, at the end of the day how much lower can Bonza go to stimulate the market than VA did, in the first place - before you even get to overhead costs.

What defines "the market"? My point is they're trying not trying to stimulate the capital city markets that VA and Jetstar in the main are focused on - but taking the LCC concept to markets that largely haven't really seen LCC services (MQL, TMW, ABX, PQQ, BDB, GLT) or on different sorts of routes in markets that have seen LCC's (MCY, MKY, ROK, CNS, TSV, NTL, PPP).

Who knows if they will work, in all likelihood once the novelty factor wears off, they will almost certainly ending up retreating from many routes - but they do seem to be trying something different to instead of just trying to do what everyone else is doing already at a lower cost.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I’m not sure why people are getting upset with Bonza and almost willing them to fail. Good luck them for having a crack I say. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work

Not willing them to fail, but I don't think having an adult discussion about the chances of success is wrong. Suppose I could sit here and say it's going to be a full on success but then I'd be lying to myself.

 

[jase05]

Not willing them to fail, but I don't think having an adult discussion about the chances of success is wrong. Suppose I could sit here and say it's going to be a full on success but then I'd be lying to myself.

I agree with that and as I said it’s just not on here. Just seems that plenty are almost wanting them to fail. I want them to make a good fist of it but do realise some routes may fail. I guess it’s a bit of trial and error until they perhaps find some solid routes.