Bonza Airline Discussion

[MooTime]

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.

You haven't found someone re Bonza is of no surprise.

Of course their planes would not be very full, how long they been in operation?

 

[Saab34]

Having a look at the booking engine for MCY-PPP flight departing in 2.5hrs this arvo has it at around 150 seats blocked and the return tonight is only half full.

Checking tomorrow mornings MCY-TSV seems about 140 seats blocked, might go out near full. The TSV-ROK flights not so good only a few dozen seats. Return TSV-MCY appears full tomorrow arvo.

Townsville to Rockhampton only $29 tomorrow. Will be interesting to see how long Bonza tests the water for.

Avalon to Sunshine Coast looks near full this weekend and the whole of next week. I think that route will do well for them.

 

[Quickstatus]

The public seem to be behind Bonza

Translating to payingpax is a different matter

how long Bonza tests the water for.

How much working capital do they have to support fares less than $100

 

[Quickstatus]

They were on record saying 90% of their proposed routes have no competition.

Maybe but it leaves them operating on routes which are generally of marginal economics. Otherwise the incumbents would be already there

In other words, they are not picking low hanging fruit

 

[Saab34]

Maybe but it leaves them operating on routes which are generally of marginal economics. Otherwise the incumbents would be already there

In other words, they are not picking low hanging fruit

True. They might do OK in holiday periods where they have the ability to increase margin, but they don't really have many opportunities to stretch margins outside of those periods, which is a large chunk of the year. They might do OK during say Friday to Monday's in Melbourne on many routes, but will likely struggle mid week in low season. Melbournians like short weekend/3 day trips.

Not sure who the target traveller is on Melbourne to Mildura 3 times a week, or Townsville to Rockhampton twice a week. Really strange route choices.

I think the Bonza network might skew more seasonal as time goes on. Winter focus on Cairns/Tropics, and Summer focus more SE QLD.

 

[dajop]

Not sure who the target traveller is on Melbourne to Mildura 3 times a week, or .

People who would otherwise drive to Melbourne I guess who don’t want to pay 2-3x on Qantas or Rex. Lots of people travel to Melbourne from Mildura for all sorts of things (sport, concerts, VFR, medical treatment, etc ). The route timings on this one are interesting Fri, Mon, Wed. I expect they’ll have no prnoblem selling the Friday evening flights. I guess it allows for long weekends in both directions.

This is really revival of a VA service that used to be an ERJ service but upgauged to 737 multiple weekly when they got rid of the regional jets.

I’d say it is one of their more sensible routes and likely to stay long term (and indeed could benefit from QF and ZL being on the route to offer people alternatives if timing doesn’t suit - AB+ZL will still be cheaper than 2xZL flights).

 

[Quickstatus]

People who would otherwise drive to Melbourne I guess who don’t want to pay 2-3x on Qantas or Rex.

That's the problem.
It fragments the demand
I also can't see how fragmenting a Rex service which is a 34 seater at best will make a 737Max economical and fill those 186 seat.

People who drive are likely still going to drive because they can use the car at the destination.

 

[dajop]

People who drive are likely still going to drive because they can use the car at the destination.

Not necessarily. I bet a lot of people drive because they don’t want to pay $500-600 return to fly. If they are going to central Melbourne (say to see footy, a show or concert etc ) a car can also be an inconvenience.

 

[Quickstatus]

Not necessarily

On the other hand if travelling from outside of departure airport to outside of destination airport a vehicle is very useful especially if away for a weekend or long weekend and travelling in a group like a family.

That's why routes like SYD-OOL was never really economical.

Correction: OOM !!

 

[dajop]

That's why routes like SYD-OOL was never really economical.

I presume you mean SYD-OOM!!

 

[kaceybutler]

Not necessarily. I bet a lot of people drive because they don’t want to pay $500-600 return to fly. If they are going to central Melbourne (say to see footy, a show or concert etc ) a car can also be an inconvenience.

Coming from someone that lives in Mildura, this is exactly the case. Airfares to Melbourne are simply unaffordable for many, and we’re actually closer to Adelaide, so most will try to get medical appointments etc over in Adelaide because it’s only a 4 hour drive. Many people going on holidays don’t even fly out of Mildura, it’s simply too expensive. We drive to Adelaide and fly from there and save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

Pre covid, Virgin flew a daily 737 service into Mildura. Even though they were a full service carrier they were always half the price of Qantas and Rex. Mildura airport said they had really good loads before covid, and every flight I flew on was full. (They even flew the -700’s in a bit when they were still Virgin Blue)

Qantas regularly charges $200pp or more one way to Melbourne. For a family of 4 return, that’s $1600. Adding on connecting flights to the Sunshine Coast and it quickly rises to $3000 or more. But now that Bonza is entering the market, we have a lifeline. Sure, they may not be the demand to fill 186 seats twice weekly up to MCY, but the Melbourne service actually gives people an economical option of getting to our state capital. I for one hope they do well, the community needs it.

 

[justinbrett]

I think the MEL routes should do pretty good, but I’m not sure about most of the MCY routes. I just don’t think they’ve got access to a big enough market there.

For Brisbane / Gold Coast, any money saved on fares is offset by having to drive to MCY and the hassle that goes along with it. Book JQ out of Brisbane for not much more.

 

[HS-TQE]

Booking out of JQ out BNE or OOL also requires a stop (in some cases) and likely collect of bags and re-check in. So that chews up time similar to those in BCC (Brisbane City Council), all southern council areas or Gold Coast making the 2 hour drive up to MCY

Although they could pay more to fly QF/QFLink via a hub and to not collect bags at the transit city.

 

[drron]

I think the MEL routes should do pretty good, but I’m not sure about most of the MCY routes. I just don’t think they’ve got access to a big enough market there.

For Brisbane / Gold Coast, any money saved on fares is offset by having to drive to MCY and the hassle that goes along with it. Book JQ out of Brisbane for not much more.

Though the Sunshine Coast has one of the highest percentages of folks over 65 of any LGA in Australia. These are the people who will love cheap fares to places such as PPP,TSV and CNS. I talked to several other retired medicos last night and Bonza came up in conversation and the thoughts were all positive.

 

[justinbrett]

Though the Sunshine Coast has one of the highest percentages of folks over 65 of any LGA in Australia. These are the people who will love cheap fares to places such as PPP,TSV and CNS. I talked to several other retired medicos last night and Bonza came up in conversation and the thoughts were all positive.

Sure, but it doesn't have 5 million people.

 

[drron]

But the draining area for Bonza will be larger than for the other airlines that serve MCY.
I can certainly envisage people driving to MCY from Caboolture, Gympie, Marybourough and Hervey Bay to fly to destinations such as TSV,CNS,MEL or AVV and possibly even Mildura. And especially those areas to the north have high proportions of over 65s which are a group that will be willing to fly Bonza for their prices.

 

[dajop]

It's also more complex and more expensive to market to 5,000,000 people, who don't really give a damn that there's a new airline in town. They can fly lots of places cheaply on Jetstar and Virgin, or Batik Air, Scoot or whoever. Whereas in smaller markets people do tend to stand up and take note, and word of mouth is strong in smaller communities. They often can't fly anywhere cheap, or (in the case of MCY) are more or less limited to cheap flights to MEL or SYD, and ADL if (un?)lucky, or driving and flying from BNE.

I don't know too many people in Melbourne who would know of Bonza, but I know people in Mildura and the Sunshine Coast and they've all heard of Bonza.

 

[Saab34]

I don't know too many people in Melbourne who would know of Bonza, but I know people in Mildura and the Sunshine Coast and they've all heard of Bonza.

It is an interesting point. Rex clearly ran into some brand awareness issues early last year when all gates had been open, they really started making headway the minute they started selling via travel agents and online platforms like webjet. They also appear in Google search.

Don’t forget Tiger also was very hesitant at the start, took them a couple of years to end up on Webjet.

I understand that pushing the product via third party providers burns margin, but the upside I believe is still greater vs trying to go it alone in a city of 5 million. If somebody wants to fly Melbourne to Mackay, and they don’t know about Bonza, they don’t have the app and so on, then how is Bonza going to secure that sale? Seems like they missing revenue opportunities perhaps in the near future.

 

[dajop]

It is an interesting point. Rex clearly ran into some brand awareness issues early last year when all gates had been open, they really started making headway the minute they started selling via travel agents and online platforms like webjet. They also appear in Google search.

Don’t forget Tiger also was very hesitant at the start, took them a couple of years to end up on Webjet.

I understand that pushing the product via third party providers burns margin, but the upside I believe is still greater vs trying to go it alone in a city of 5 million. If somebody wants to fly Melbourne to Mackay, and they don’t know about Bonza, they don’t have the app and so on, then how is Bonza going to secure that sale? Seems like they missing revenue opportunities perhaps in the near future.

Although what Rex was trying to do and what Bonza is trying to do are very different, and as a result I can understand why Bonza haven't yet bothered with Webjet.

Rex is essentially trying to capture market share from incumbents on well established routes - if you are flying from Melbourne to Sydney, everyone knows you can fly between the cities, and many would automatically go to kayak, Webjet, FC or the like to look what their options are. However what Bonza is trying to is create new demand for routes that don't really exist. You could make a case for routes like MEL-MQL and MEL-MCY having a presence would be useful, but for routes like ABX-MCY or TMW-MEL you need to get out and promote the existence of the route in the first place, they're probably not even competing for current TMW-MEL traffic, which is probably largely business traffic, as your schedule probably isn't that suitable for that market segment.

 

[sqrt()]

It is an interesting point. Rex clearly ran into some brand awareness issues early last year when all gates had been open, they really started making headway the minute they started selling via travel agents and online platforms like webjet. They also appear in Google search.

Don’t forget Tiger also was very hesitant at the start, took them a couple of years to end up on Webjet.

I understand that pushing the product via third party providers burns margin, but the upside I believe is still greater vs trying to go it alone in a city of 5 million. If somebody wants to fly Melbourne to Mackay, and they don’t know about Bonza, they don’t have the app and so on, then how is Bonza going to secure that sale? Seems like they missing revenue opportunities perhaps in the near future.

Yeah, no trace of AB on google flights. Southwest similarly sells only on their own app/website but they still have visibility of their itineraries (though not prices) on GF to drive traffic to their channels so they can properly upsell.