Bonza Airline Discussion

[Harrison_133]

Having a look through the app, there are a lot of OOL routes listed as "sold out" (a la Zero'd out) AVV, ISA, BQB, TSV etc. Dire straits?

The only Gold Coast flights currently on sale for next week are:

• Tuesday - Mackay & Mount Isa
• Wednesday - Rockhampton & Townsville
• Saturday - Tullamarine
• Sunday - unaffected at this stage

Everything else is showing as ‘Sold Out’.

I imagine they’re currently rejigging the schedules so they can keep using the spare aircraft out of the Gold Coast, taking strains on crewing requirements into account. Probably explains why the Darwin red-eye has been quickly cut.

They have a second line of flying due to commence on Monday. Unless they cut flights, they’re going to need help from somewhere. I won’t be surprised to see Nauru Airlines stepping in to operate more Bonza flights over the coming weeks.

 

[A321]

. I won’t be surprised to see Nauru Airlines stepping in to operate more Bonza flights over the coming weeks.

& I'm surprised we haven't seen Alliance - surely those gorgeous (sorry, Bonza-tastic!) Fokkers are hiring cheaply

 

[justinbrett]

Just noticed OOL-BDB is "sold out" right through December. Last night it was only next week.

Cancellation axe about to fall? Gonna be a lot of upset pax, and possibly ruined Christmases. This won't end well for Bonza, they're toast.

 

[Harrison_133]

Just noticed OOL-BDB is "sold out" right through December. Last night it was only next week.

Cancellation axe about to fall? Gonna be a lot of upset pax, and possibly ruined Christmases. This won't end well for Bonza, they're toast.

Cairns & Avalon are the same.

I’m booked to fly AVV-OOL in that period. At the moment, the flight is still showing normally on my app, and I can manage seat selection and baggage. If they’re going to cancel it, I hope it’s sooner rather than later.

Let the fun and games begin I guess.

 

[Harrison_133]

From Facebook:

 

[justinbrett]

From Facebook:
View attachment 355597

And yet some of those flights in Dec are still for sale (others are "Sold Out").

 

[justinbrett]

Bonza have disabled comments on their facebook page (was enabled an hour ago).

 

[flydoc]

Bonza have disabled comments on their facebook page (was enabled an hour ago).

The comments on this FB page are just starting up….

 

[DC3]

Doomed from the start

 

[justinbrett]

I'm surprised by the lack of mainstream media attention on this

 

[Saab34]

I think they are trying to do too much. They are only very fresh on the AOC front, they are not experienced operators yet, still under close watch by the regulator. Tiger set a precedent when it started, as in the wheels started falling off a year in, then completely fell off soon after.

I’m not saying Bonza are amateurs and cutting corners, but perhaps just focus on one or two bases for a couple of years, gain the confidence of the regulator, the start really branching out.

Was reports that they tried to outsource many more parts of the business when they started, but CASA said no. That in itself gets the attention from the decision makers, odds are not in their favour for this going ahead.

 

[Harrison_133]

I'm surprised by the lack of mainstream media attention on this

Gold Coast-Darwin cancellations starting to be picked up by the media.

The rest of the routes that are in jeopardy…crickets.

 

[pauly7]

I'm surprised by the lack of mainstream media attention on this

Are you really? It’s missing a crucial element to make the media report on it.

 

[Harrison_133]

Next week’s flights to/from the Gold Coast across most routes are starting to be removed completely from the app and passengers notified: ‘your flight has been cancelled due to a delay in obtaining regulatory approval, deferring the start of this route.’

My AVV-OOL has not been officially cancelled yet. I gave the Bonza online chat a burl earlier, and it was as hopeless as you’d expect. The agent at first conceded they had regulatory issues and that route had been postponed until January, then backtracked to say it was just ‘some’ flights that would be affected.

I think it’s time to crack open the Velocity points and cut my losses with all this shenanigans.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Gold Coast-Darwin cancellations starting to be picked up by the media.

The rest of the routes that are in jeopardy…crickets.

ABC.net.au An airline's cancellation of all December flights on one route has devastated families' holiday plans

Key points:

• The airline says flights on the route will now commence in January
• Some families have had to cancel their holiday plans
• Bonza says 1,600 customers are impacted

Furious customers are scrambling to find viable options after budget airline Bonza announced it was cancelling flights between Darwin and Gold Coast for the entire month of December.

The airline announced the cancellations on Thursday, just hours before the maiden voyage of its Darwin-Gold Coast route, announced in September, was due to take off from Darwin.

It has put the plans of Corey Reichstein, a father of three whose family was about to board a plane for their first holiday in five years, into disarray. "We pretty much spent all of our savings getting the money together to fly into the Gold Coast, and the theme parks with the kids," he said. "Then yesterday, we got an email from Bonza explaining that they couldn't actually fly us into the Gold Coast."
<snip>

In a statement, Bonza cited "regulatory approval processes" hindering its attempt to lease and recruit crew for an aircraft as the reason it had to cancel the services. "That process is progressing but is not yet complete and as a result, we've had to make the regrettable decision to defer some flights between Gold Coast and Darwin in the coming weeks," the airline said.

No AU regulator or EU261 type laws. [we live in hope!] But IIRC EU261 does not apply for changes 14 days out.
Hard to understand what the "regulatory issues" are. Or just Bonza not up to speed bringing in new routes/capacity to the market and/or not selling enough tickets.
But if this was QF would have made the TV news with a lot of publicity - noise.

 

[Saab34]

regulatory issues" are.

As mentioned above, they have approval to operate into Darwin, they just don’t have approval to operate Flair leases yet. They had 3 months to get that sorted.

It’s the season not to travel I think. Bonza is way too risky with being dumped due to no spare aircraft and lack of frequency, Virgin is a disaster. Rex 737 seems to be the most reliable, however can get caught out with lack of fleet.

They are all just as unreliable as each other.

 

[justinbrett]

So should we start a poll guessing how long until Bonza goes into administration?

777 might have deep pockets but doesn’t mean Bonza itself does. Right now it’s probably better to scrap it and start again.

As mentioned above, they have approval to operate into Darwin, they just don’t have approval to operate Flair leases yet. They had 3 months to get that sorted.

It’s the season not to travel I think. Bonza is way too risky with being dumped due to no spare aircraft and lack of frequency, Virgin is a disaster. Rex 737 seems to be the most reliable, however can get caught out with lack of fleet.

They are all just as unreliable as each other.

You cannot compare complete cancellation of multiple routes for a month with what is happening on VA.

 

[travelislife]

It is utter stupidity how they have tried to expand so fast and stretched themselves so thin. They should have consolidated before doing this.

 

[Saab34]

It is utter stupidity how they have tried to expand so fast and stretched themselves so thin. They should have consolidated before doing this.

The thing is, they did. They learnt this lesson earlier this year and then rejigged to get themselves a spare aircraft. Now they have just screwed themselves over due to sheer incompetence on their behalf.

The issue is, they went into this whole Flair thing like it was a done deal. It wasn’t. Would be interesting to know the point in time CASA said no dice, it appeared to have occurred after the Flair aircraft had arrived. What was happening in the prior 3 months?

CASA pulled them up during the AOC process and now have pulled them up on this. No doubt they will be watching AB closely moving forward. I hope this second rate stuff isn’t evident in the training and engineering departments.

 

[A321]

I reckon the OOL bird UIK might have gone tech, as Nauru is back on the payroll this time with their B733