Bonza Airline Discussion

[Cool Cat Phil]

This is what interests me as well. I think they're stretching it to imagine that routes like Mildura/Coffs/Albury/Port Mac to MCY will fill a 737 twice a week.

While in the meantime you have VA and JQ flying MEL-MCY 3 times daily each, with VA ramping up to sometimes 6 flights/day during peak times (eg. school holidays).

Surely there's room to undercut that market and fly MEL-MCY daily (instead of 4 per week) and make some more money?

Supposedly the reason behind this the lack of flights between the two destinations is aircraft rotation between their two hubs. However o believe this route is a test on setting up on a well established route to identify the potential competition tactics. I suspect Bonza know if they rattle the status quo with more flights on that particular route it will become a price war. Great for consumers - not so for Bonza.

 

[moa999]

To holiday destinations though you really need minimum 2/wk. Not everyone wants a 7-night stay.

That said I agree that some of these routes won't support 737s and I expect that we will see Bonza jiggling things including an entry to SYD.

 

[drron]

So the first flight takes off from MCY on the morning of 31/1 for Proserpine.

Bonza prepares for take-off on first flight from Coast airport

Fingers are getting twitchy on the Fly Bonza app and travellers are checking calendars as Australia’s only independent low-cost airline prepares for take-off on its first commercial flight. The airline, based on the Sunshine Coast, was granted its Air Operator Certificate from the Civil Aviation...

www.sunshinecoastnews.com.au

 

[Saab34]

More details about the two bases and which base operates which routes.

Still no movement on the app though. Only 10 days until launch, they will miss the school holidays but it might be a wise idea starting off slow with lower seasonal traffic until they get in a routine before late March approaches. April will be busy. Hoping they can get the Melbourne base up by then.

 

[henrus]

Only 10 days until launch

This must be a first, 10 days to launch and still haven't sold a single seat yet.

If they do indeed sell tickets for the first flight I'll try and get on it but by the sounds of it there won't be many if any sold to the public.

Clearly IT is working hard though because their test has worked!

 

[RooFlyer]

The next thing will be if they have success on some routes, the competition might want some of that profit pool, I think the MEL-GLT/MKY/ROK/BDB might have legs

Just recall that their model is to ask airports for discounts/'deals' on landing fees etc. No discount/deal, no Bonza (except maybe their key 1 or 2 ports). CEO explicitly cited "didn't get offered any discounts" for the reason they aren't in Tasmania. And given how grasping HBA is, I can believe that.

 

[TheRealTMA]

This must be a first, 10 days to launch and still haven't sold a single seat yet.

If they do indeed sell tickets for the first flight I'll try and get on it but by the sounds of it there won't be many if any sold to the public.

Clearly IT is working hard though because their test has worked!
View attachment 314704

[language warning.]

Passenger On Bonza's Inaugural Flight Was Feeling OK Until He Noticed The Pilot Isn't Even Wearing Shoes

More to come.

www.betootaadvocate.com

 

[Saab34]

Just recall that their model is to ask airports for discounts/'deals' on landing fees etc. No discount/deal, no Bonza (except maybe their key 1 or 2 ports). CEO explicitly cited "didn't get offered any discounts" for the reason they aren't in Tasmania. And given how grasping HBA is, I can believe that.

The Ryanair approach. And when they hike fees they pull out and give them a spray in the media.

They might have some issues at these smaller council owned airports. They will get greedy (eventually) and use the chance to raise charges for Bonza to boost council revenue. Rex has had a few issues on that front with a few cities.

 

[RooFlyer]

The Ryanair approach. And when they hike fees they pull out and give them a spray in the media.

They might have some issues at these smaller council owned airports. They will get greedy (eventually) and use the chance to raise charges for Bonza to boost council revenue. Rex has had a few issues on that front with a few cities.

Yeah; certainly I'd think if the airports see Bonza being profitable off the back of them lowering fees, they'll reconsider and say "we'll have some of that". But then again, I'm equally sure the Bonza accountants will make damn sure there isn't any taxable profit for some time ...

 

[Scarlett]

This must be a first, 10 days to launch and still haven't sold a single seat yet.

If they do indeed sell tickets for the first flight I'll try and get on it but by the sounds of it there won't be many if any sold to the public.

You sure about that @henrus?
ISTR Rexjet did a pretty good job of launching without any (many) pax for their first couple of months!

 

[henrus]

ISTR Rexjet did a pretty good job of launching without any (many) pax for their first couple of months!

Yes that’s fair but I think a route like Syd-Mel is very different to one like mcy-ppp. The former has a mixture of traffic where as the latter is likely to be 100% tourism.

 

[Saab34]

Sydney to Melbourne can fill very quick at very short notice.

MCY-PPP will be a tough ask trying to fill 186 seats three times a week for the next few weeks assuming it starts in 9 days ( still can’t book, would be smart to try and get everything online before this weekend)

They will need a bit of lead time for many of these MCY routes, next month might be a bit quiet around the Bonza network. I remember when Tiger kicked off, they started selling seats in May for a November start. Bit different here trying to flog off leisure regional routes a week out.

 

[dajop]

I guess a few factors at play:

- they already have the staff
- they already have corporate overheads
- they would have already accounted for making losses for a certain period of time

So if they can cover fuel and variable crewing costs then it probably makes sense to operate.

I don’t think anyone in their right mind starts an airline expecting the first few weeks of operating on their first route is going to bring in any sort of profit.

But having planes in the air and flying allows for the PR machine to kick into gear. And start generating some free advertising particularly in the local media in the ports that they start flying to.

Actually come to think of it, once they start flying probably much easier (and cheaper) for Bonza to establish their brand identity on the Sunshine Coast and within the various regional ports than Rex did in MEL and SYD. MEL will be more of a challenge though.

 

[RB]

My thoughts wander to reports like this The Rise & Inglorious Fall Of Australia's JetGo
Parties involved in that failure continue to have involvement in Aust aviation

 

[Bundy Bear]

My thoughts wander to reports like this The Rise & Inglorious Fall Of Australia's JetGo
Parties involved in that failure continue to have involvement in Aust aviation

If you want your max8 fix get it soon

 

[travelislife]

My thoughts wander to reports like this The Rise & Inglorious Fall Of Australia's JetGo
Parties involved in that failure continue to have involvement in Aust aviation

We did use JetGo a fair bit and it was great, when they weren’t late. One of their problems I think (which Bonza seems to be following) is a heap of people didn’t know they existed. Because they weren’t in the GDS. Direct bookings only. So if you did a search on say Webjet or Flightcentre (side thread on how amazing it is how many people still book domestic flights through these websites) for a route that we knew JetGo flew direct for a cheaper price, the only options would be Qantas/Virgin/Rex with connections. So they shot themselves in the foot on a lot of potential sales and revenue I think.

 

[Saab34]

I think Bonza will do OK with publicity in some of the regional areas, they are offering something these towns have never seen, a direct low cost flight to a capital city. It’s a game changer for many, with that comes a lot of social media publicity and local press. Seems to be going well on socials when the local newspaper announced it.

Issue is, they just don’t have enough people.

Question remains, they said they don’t want to join routes with other carriers due competition and so on, so if this doesn’t work, what the hell do they do next?

 

[dajop]

Jetgo is an interesting comparison, some similarities in terms of the types of routes they were going after, but obviously slightly different in terms of size of aircraft and perhaps slightly greater frequency (the Wollongong - MEL flights > daily?) and pitched at a different market?

I notice intro fares for MEL-HVB were $248. Not exactly headline grabbing

JetGo announces BNE-HVB and HVB-MEB flight to commence 21st July

Jetgo continue to spread their wings and will commence flights from Brisbane to Hervey Bay and also from Hervey Bay to Melbourne (Essendon) from 21st July BNE-HVB 10.10 - 10.40 HVB-BNE 17.10 - 17.40 HVB-MEB 11.10 - 13.40 MEB-HVB 14.10 - 16.40 Flights are 4 x weekly ( Su M W F )...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Also did they have much ancilliary revenue? It seems Bonza will be chasing a fair bit of that.

 

[justinbrett]

I think Bonza will do OK with publicity in some of the regional areas, they are offering something these towns have never seen, a direct low cost flight to a capital city. It’s a game changer for many, with that comes a lot of social media publicity and local press. Seems to be going well on socials when the local newspaper announced it.

Issue is, they just don’t have enough people.

Question remains, they said they don’t want to join routes with other carriers due competition and so on, so if this doesn’t work, what the hell do they do next?

That's offset with very low frequencies though. The MEL routes should be fine, MCY routes might be a bit more difficult due to the smaller catchment in MCY. OOL would have been a much safer bet.

 

[Brissy1]

what the hell do they do next?

Fly international where is presently an oligopoly? (if only they could get the slots)