Bonza Airline Discussion

[RSVKanga]

Qantas started (seasonal) BNE/ABX services (for the ski market) before Bonza even started operations.

I believe those were seasonal turboprops. That route has come a long way as it is now a year round jet service.

 

[jb747]

Really you'd think JQ would be the only candidate for these sorts of routes, although Rex might be a wildcard.

I doubt that JQ would work. QLink perhaps. I think they need to be operating a smaller aircraft. Economy of scale doesn't exist just because you have 180 seats, so to my mind, that rules out 320s and 737s.

 

[dajop]

I doubt that JQ would work. QLink perhaps. I think they need to be operating a smaller aircraft. Economy of scale doesn't exist just because you have 180 seats, so to my mind, that rules out 320s and 737s.

Agreed. But Qlink would have to be the most expensive carrier in Australia! On many routes. And probably wouldn’t want to cannibalise their existing market.

But there’s no doubt 180 seats is too big for most, if not all of the routes. And even on routes where it made sense you might command higher fares operating a 100 seat plane 4-5x a week instead of a 180 seat plane 2/3x a week.

Globally it seems in the LCC market generally the smallest they go is 319’s and 737-7’s. Although more recently some forays into smaller planes such as Breeze (which hasn’t been profitable either) which has had E170/190s and moving to 220s and Scoot’s brand new E190’s (which is probably going to be successful as it will fly to more expensive destinations for SIN originating pax + be supported by connections from its parent to these destinations - eg USM and KBV).

 

[moa999]

777 Partners will make a really great business book someday. There are so many odd angles to this:

Agreed. Some interesting background to some of the founders.

They seem to have followed part of the Warren Buffet playbook in buying an insurance company and then rather than investing in safe assets, chasing higher yield.
Albeit these guys seem to specialise in investments in loss making entities.

 

[SYD]

I've written an opinion piece on what I think went wrong with Bonza:

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/why-bonza-failed/

Feel free to discuss, agree or disagree.

Great summary. I’d add Compass Mk1 for setting the benchmark on Oz airline failures. Throwing 250+ seat A300s on a random schedule with no idea of yield management was a recipe for disaster but great for flyers at the time - unless you were booked to fly on the fateful day in December 1991.

Compass MkII should have worked with MD-82s but in hindsight, revising the “Compass” brand was an Albatross with a dickie wing around its next.

Speaking of lame ducks, Kiwi was NZs attempt to show that they can’t be outdone. Who names an airline after a flightless bird…..

I was flying SYD-AKL on the day Kiwi folded. The woman sitting next to me had her ticket honoured by QF and she was so happy to be getting home!

 

[jb747]

Agreed. But Qlink would have to be the most expensive carrier in Australia! On many routes. And probably wouldn’t want to cannibalise their existing market.

But there’s no doubt 180 seats is too big for most, if not all of the routes. And even on routes where it made sense you might command higher fares operating a 100 seat plane 4-5x a week instead of a 180 seat plane 2/3x a week.

Globally it seems in the LCC market generally the smallest they go is 319’s and 737-7’s.

Ah, I see your error. When you say LCC, you think the low cost applies to you.

They’re worthwhile routes. But, QF isn’t going to get involved at Bonza prices. That’s why I hope Rex looks at it.

 

[airlinemn]

JetstarLink could actually work.

Give them 10 E190s or something and it could actually be very successful.

Bonza has proven that much.

 

[henrus]

I don't know why there is so much doom and gloom in this thread.

"Bonza has temporarily suspended services due to be operated between Tues 30 April, Wed 1 and Thur 2 May, as discussions are currently underway regarding the ongoing viability of the business."

So it'll be all good on Friday... not to worry

Ok jokes aside, I don't know why they (or administrators) put out that message when it's rather clear it's suspended indefinitely.

JetstarLink could actually work.

Jetstar operated Q300s on regional routes in New Zealand. It's not totally out of the question if they decided to do the same here in Australia but why would they when QF could operate it instead at 10x the price.

 

[airlinemn]

QF could operate it instead at 10x the price

I don’t think they could.

To work, it needs to be a low cost carrier.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Bonza very clearly blew a lot of that incorrectly and basically the parent company said, tough luck we're not bailing you out.

agree. The wet leasing, delayed AOC launch, delayed OOL kickoff, lighter loads, the cash was just whittled away to nothing too quick.

+2 and I'd add that the endless sales in the last few months made for burn but bugger all earn. The months of bargain basement fares on routes where they had no competitors made no sense at all.

 

[justinbrett]

JetstarLink could actually work.

That pretty much existed in NZ for a time.

 

[HS-TQE]

Aka Propstar. Didn't last long in regional NZ, with the aircraft returning to QFLink/Eastern.

 

[jakeseven7]

Aka Propstar. Didn't last long in regional NZ, with the aircraft returning to QFLink/Eastern.

Much speculation was this decision was more about QF calling a truce with NZ and signing a domestic codeshare agreement with them, rather than Jetstar not being able to gain traction with the props. It was kept pretty quiet though for obvious reasons!

 

[mrflyby]

This is an example of what will happen to Global Airlines even crazier A380 business model.
Doomed to failure begin before it even begins.

 

[moa999]

Going OT
But Global Aviation has reportedly hired HiFly to operate their aircraft... You know the same one that HiFly decided wasn't viable to spend the money on the required refit.

 

[Quickstatus]

when QF could operate it instead at 10x the price

At 2x negative profitability?. And with what aircraft?

 

[docjames]

I'm sorry for the staff who by all accounts were great and really wanted Bonza to succeed.

I'm not surprised - the model and decisions around eg. app only were short sighted (at best) and downright dumb (probably a more honest appraisal).

More light-heartedly, I'd love to know how many budgie smugglers they sold over the journey??

 

[Saab34]

Actually I was tossing up whether to buy a pair, I was going to do it next time o flew them, certainly a bit of aviation nostalgia for the future!

I guess all the stock might end up online to flog off eventually.

 

[A321]

Actually I was tossing up whether to buy a pair, I was going to do it next time o flew them, certainly a bit of aviation nostalgia for the future!

I guess all the stock might end up online to flog off eventually.

If anyone wants to buy a box from Pickles when the time comes, I'm in

 

[dsbooth]

The choice of routes was not necessarily the problem.
Running 737-800 aircraft was a major issue.
Why do Qantas and Virgin run smaller aircraft of their regional routes.
To keep the costs down!