Bonza Airline Discussion

[HS-TQE]

They will follow the money trail when it comes to opening new bases. Taxpayer handouts are quite common if one wants to base xx aircraft in a particular place.

Adelaide Government in conjunction with Tourism SA gave Tiger $3m to start a base there in the late 2000s. Adelaide is often handing out taxpayer cash to airlines so that base would seem likely.

Premier Beattie was also instrumental in stumping up the taxpayer funds to get VB under Branson and Godfrey to base their headquarters in Brisbane.

A shame that VB's successors VA 1.0 under a now former CEO and his buddies at EY And SQ subsequently gutted it (and eventually 'asset-stripped' VA 1.0 by mortgaging almost every asset and sold/leased back the old Bowen Hills Village).

 

[Flying Fox]

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I flew Bonza on Sunday evening and have written up a review here:

Bonza Review: Flying Australia's Newest Airline

The Bonza staff were incredibly enthusiastic - both on the ground and in the air - and this made the whole experience a lot of fun.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Thanks for the review.

Other than the safety briefings and delivering ordered F&B, did the cabin crew simply disappear during the flight?

 

[jrfsp]

MEL-CNS and MEL-PER are both against the non-compete philosophy that Bonza seem to be adopting. Hence the AVV suggestion makes sense , although both routes seems longer than the routes AB is going after.

They could in theory if it without a base in AVV as MCY-AVV-PER in the evening and back overnight to return to MCY in the morning. But crewing might be difficult.

The non compete philosophy doesnt seem to have carried through to the proposed MEL routes, going head-to-head on a number of routes, MCY for instance served by JQ, QF and VA!

 

[HS-TQE]

The non compete philosophy doesnt seem to have carried through to the proposed MEL routes, going head-to-head on a number of routes, MCY for instance served by JQ, QF and VA!

IIRC Bonza 'competing' on MEL-MCY is to rotate aircraft between the MEL and MCY bases, which probably was considered 'cheaper' than running empties between MEL and MCY.

 

[kookaburra75]

I'll be happy when they include Canberra in their routes. We pay too much here with the "Canberra Tax", and having a decent competitor will be a big plus

 

[jrfsp]

IIRC Bonza 'competing' on MEL-MCY is to rotate aircraft between the MEL and MCY bases, which probably was considered 'cheaper' than running empties between MEL and MCY.

My point is that not all their routes will have no direct competition, MEL-MQL they will be going up against QF and ZL.

 

[HS-TQE]

My point is that not all their routes will have no direct competition, MEL-MQL they will be going up against QF and ZL.

I don't think Bonza advertised that they have no competition. They were on record saying 90% of their proposed routes have no competition.

 

[dajop]

My point is that not all their routes will have no direct competition, MEL-MQL they will be going up against QF and ZL.

There may be competition, but Bonza is almost certainly chasing a different market segment on that route, and expanding the market rather than taking market share from the incumbents. Not really competing directly with the much more expensive high frequency propeller services that both ZL and QF offer, which relies much more on business/government (and medical care?) traffic, than the leisure traffic that Bonza is targeting. By contrast something like MEL-CNS would go head to head with JQ, VA and QF jet services.

So I'd argue that MEL-MQL is fairly consistent with their overall approach, whereas MEL-CNS would not be,

 

[Harrison_133]

According to this Bonza Instagram post, flights operated by the Melbourne base go on sale later this week.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[AFF Editor]

Thanks for the review.

Other than the safety briefings and delivering ordered F&B, did the cabin crew simply disappear during the flight?

Not really. There were a few announcements during the flight and quite a few people ordered food & drinks, so the crew were constantly walking through the aisles.

I'll be happy when they include Canberra in their routes. We pay too much here with the "Canberra Tax", and having a decent competitor will be a big plusView attachment 317232

Some of the staff mentioned that CBR and PER were two of their most requested destinations, and that they were looking into the feasibility of both.

I personally think MCY-PER would work well for them.

 

[HS-TQE]

Can't see Bonza entering MEL-CBR but could see them entering MCY-CBR, which is only served twice weekly by QantasLink/National Jet 717s on a seasonal basis.

 

[PineappleSkip]

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, I flew Bonza on Sunday evening and have written up a review...

In case you haven't seen it, Tim Jordan likes your review and gave it a plug on LinkedIn

LinkedIn post

 

[drron]

With some pretty good comments on the review in the replies.

 

[jakeseven7]

I'll be happy when they include Canberra in their routes. We pay too much here with the "Canberra Tax", and having a decent competitor will be a big plusView attachment 317232

They’d have to work out a way to get around the costs of doing business with CBR airport first…

 

[kookaburra75]

Can't see Bonza entering MEL-CBR but could see them entering MCY-CBR, which is only served twice weekly by QantasLink/National Jet 717s on a seasonal basis.

I agree, any of the closer locations (MEL/SYD/ADL/BNE), which have main govt business travel wouldn't be a good pick. But the leisure markets like MCY and onward connections would be brilliant, even MCY-CFS-CBR or back the other way. Canberra has a large regional catchment for travellers, so it would be good to get some better options.

 

[MARTINE]

Might consider a last minute few days away midweek in dead of Vic winter to Sunshine coast and see how we go. Avalon now closer than Melb for us — this Aussie needs to pack her cozzies!!

 

[AIRwin]

According to this Bonza Instagram post, flights operated by the Melbourne base go on sale later this week.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

On sale now:

 

[Saab34]

It really is great seeing all these routes and also good to see the like of MEL-MKY/ROK return after Tiger operated it for so many years.

Would really like to see some Fri/Sun/Mon frequencies across many of these MEL-FNQ routes would use them a bit.

The public seem to be behind Bonza, really do think they need to still be on Webjet or something. Google Flights is a powerful tool also.

 

[ossi]

Ex MEL flights are now on sale.

Most flights start in May with a few starting in April.

 

[jakeseven7]

I haven't found anyone who even knows Bonza exists yet.

I wonder how the loads are going, some reports from Sunny Coast that the planes have not been very full.