Bonza Airline Discussion

[Aussie_flyer]

That's exactly what needs to be done. They're a very small player on the international stage and all Australians should be vested to ensure their perpetual success and growth, not chronically and consistently rally against it online. Qantas have been the victims of brutal domestic events over the past four years, and don't pretend that you don't know anything about it. They're a business that still positively resonate with the silent majority of Australia. They're not a Google. They're not a Meta. They're not an X. They're not a monster. They're not an Amazon. They're not some big shady multinational bully. It would be very difficult to sympathise with these corporations even though they may have contributed to the greater good.

But the owner of Bonza falls into the above category. Bonza's owners are a corporation with significantly deep pockets and are showing signs of serious secrecy, mystery and uncertainty from their (claimed) offices in Miami. This billion-dollar US corporation has an incredibly chequered, strange and shady history. How could ordinary Australians rally behind this company, and frankly, why should they? This already shady corporation selling Bonza tickets for flights that were already cancelled (in normal national economic conditions!) should have been met with fierce outrage. Are the people who were so bellicose towards QF when they did this during COVID going to express the same level of belligerence?

Plus Qantas group are now rescuing the same stranded Bonza passengers who complained about Jetstar/Qantas with free flights!

 

[SeaWolf]

How could ordinary Australians rally behind this company, and frankly, why should they?

No one is supporting 777 Partners. That's simply not happening.

Australians are rallying behind the people caught up in this, the employees, the customers. There's no reason for you to paint this as some sort of battle between people's sympathy for Bonza and their sentiments towards Qantas. What's going on here has got nothing to do with Qantas at all, yet somehow you've managed to twist what's happening here to be all about poor Qantas.

 

[dajop]

And I wouldn't label 777 partners in the same category as "evil" multinationals. They're just a bunch a of rich [self-redacted]holes screwing people over. That's what some people do unfortunately. They seem to be having a laugh at the expense of Canadians and Australians.

Quite a contrast to what PAG are doing over at Rex, instead of pushing brand spanking new planes (at we presume overinflated prices) on their investment vehicle, Rex it seems were shopping around for cheap deals on older aircraft, to presumably create a business where the cash will last long enough for it to eventually be profitable.

 

[moa999]

They're just a bunch a of rich [self-redacted]holes screwing people over.

I don't fully understand 777P / AIP model but it seems to partially be a Berkshire Hathaway / Buffet play in using insurer/ reinsurer funds to invest in higher yielding (and higher risk).assets

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Not surprising for an airline managed by a bunch of poseurs in t-shirts.

 

[equus]

In general, the reason for excluding insolvency seem to be the degree of risk. Imagine if Flight Centre or Virgin went bust… the cost could be enormous, and the price of policies perhaps prohibitive.

Probably not just the degree of risk, but the "lumpy" nature of potential claims. Most travel insurance incidents are relatively regular and affect a relatively small number of people for each one (a plane load or two being about the maximum). The regularity means that the cost of claims can be factored into the cashflow, and likely covered. Things that come much less regularly but are catastrophic are much more problematic.

General insurers deal with this by using reinsurance - they will take the first $x million exposure pre event, and pay reinsurers to cover the rest. Whilst a bushfire or earthquake here might be infrequent and expensive, there are fires, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis around the world on a somewhat regular basis, so reinsurers can handle it.

On a more practical note, unless actually stranded mid-trip, using a credit card to purchase tickets offers some coverage. At least you can get your money back for the ticket. Doesn't help for lost accommodation, purchasing a more expensive replacement or other inconvenience, but at least it is something.

Those policies that do cover insolvency of providers seem to place a cap on the liability - which is a lot less than the potential medical expenses on a single claim basis, but obviously adds up. They also contain conditions that you need to pursue other avenues to receive refunds etc. - so they will be pushing lots of people down the credit card charge back route as well.

 

[RooFlyer]

Poor, poor Qantas! Even as Bonza collapses and hundreds of people lose their jobs and many more lose their fares, everyone's* talking about & picking on poor Qantas.

* Well, someone anyway.

 

[Saab34]

 

[Saab34]

On another note, it appears 2 out of 4 have already been de registered.

 

[Harrison_133]

Snippet from a paywalled article in the Herald Sun:

The administrators of failed budget airline Bonza discussed its parlous financial state with representatives of the company at least 11 times since November, new documents filed with ASIC reveal.

Bonza continued to sell tickets after first meeting with partners at accounting firm Hall Chadwick to discuss appointing them “as advisers to review the financial position of the company” on November 10, and throughout discussions and email correspondence that continued until last month.
This includes continuing to sell tickets after April 17, which is when the administrators say Bonza received a notice from the owner of its fleet of six planes, AIP Capital, claiming it had defaulted on its lease.

On another note, it appears 2 out of 4 have already been de registered.

Allegedly they've been leased to a Polish airline according to this article.

Source: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/busine...ws-story/bca4cc4098bb568681be2c1cc047ba9b?amp

 

[JCK98]

Snippet from a paywalled article in the Herald Sun:



Allegedly they've been leased to a Polish airline according to this article.

Source: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/busine...ws-story/bca4cc4098bb568681be2c1cc047ba9b?amp

Would be fitting if they ended up at LOT

 

[HS-TQE]

Rumours are going around that the Bonza units are going (back) to LOT, their original intended customer. Going "full circle" with the 4x VH registered Bonza units if that is true.

 

[Saab34]

Wonder what the deal is with that Flair aircraft. Still Canadian registered and they have moved all the concrete blocks away from it now, it’s obviously not part of the repossessed group being on lease to Flair. I note the other Flonza aircraft in Canada has now had all its markings removed.

I guess once the fleet leaves, not really much in the way left aside some airport logos, they essentially had no assets. The ground handling company will now have a whole bunch of MAX equipment, luckily they also service Virgin, less equipment they need to purchase now with Virgin ramping up MAX ops.

Bonza will soon be forgotten and life will simply roll on.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Wonder what the deal is with that Flair aircraft. Still Canadian registered and they have moved all the concrete blocks away from it now, it’s obviously not part of the repossessed group being on lease to Flair. I note the other Flonza aircraft in Canada has now had all its markings removed.

I guess once the fleet leaves, not really much in the way left aside some airport logos, they essentially had no assets. The ground handling company will now have a whole bunch of MAX equipment, luckily they also service Virgin, less equipment they need to purchase now with Virgin ramping up MAX ops.

Bonza will soon be forgotten and life will simply roll on.

How many budgie smugglers in stock?

 

[tcasfail]

The ground handling company will now have a whole bunch of MAX equipment

OOL MCY MEL CNS TSV (all pushback ports) already had towbars, which are all compatible with the NG.
I feel for the smaller ground handlers that had to fork out 20-30K for the 737MAX rear stairs (that aren’t compatible with the NG), at ports that will probably never see a MAX again.

 

[jakeseven7]

Not surprising for an airline managed by a bunch of poseurs in t-shirts.

Exactly just missing the white beards and women in bikinis

Bonza will soon be forgotten and life will simply roll on.

Agreed

 

[RooFlyer]

Bonza will soon be forgotten and life will simply roll on.

Perhaps forlornly remembered a little while longer by those folks in the ports who rode the routes that the majors didn't service .

 

[Albert Hoffman]

Every time I read it, I read it as the national virus carrier.

The QF Mind Virus.

 

[HS-TQE]

Perhaps forlornly remembered a little while longer by those folks in the ports who rode the routes that the majors didn't service .

Also agreed there. SC residents have been lobbying for services 'north' for years, yet didn't work twice from a yield perspective (Alliance Airlines in 2020-2021) and most recently Bonza (2023/24). I'd suspect most will eventually move on apart from a few.

Alliance priced their MCY-CNS services accordingly and hadn't been able to get the yields for higher price tickets, and Bonza were pricing MCY-CNS/TSV/etc at discount fares, whilst CNS and TSV were going out either full or near full, it was still loss making due to filling up the aircraft at 'extremely low yield' of discount fares.

 

[Saab34]

Jetstar could run a MCY-CNS route, seasonal like they have done with Newcastle to Cairns.

It’s a route that clearly worked well for Bonza, no doubt Jetstar would do even better with its reach.

Newcastle to Sunshine Coast might be another.

Again, a whole bunch of these would be seasonal only.