Bonza Airline Discussion

[dajop]

Rex jet services were of course available from the get go via the scraping sites and TA’s. But not their lowest level fares - only the flexible fares. That of course prevented them from being price competitive. Once they fixed that their loads seemed to improve.

With Bonza they must be going with the word of mouth/Facebook/insta/YouTube +traditional methods promotion - maybe this will work in Sunshine Coast and the rural centres they service - but once they start up MEL services it becomes much more difficult to reach 5m people than a few hundred thousand.

I do wonder how important the scraping sites are. You’re travelling from MEL to SYD , you know there are all sorts of options and thus these are useful. By contrast I’d say the numbers travelling deliberately from MCY to ABX or BDB to MEL are fairly small, so generating demand is more important than trying to tap into existing demand. So scraping price comparison sites might be less important than letting people know “hey you can get cheap fares through us if you’re travelling for leisure because we actually fly this route”. Maybe that’s their logic.

 

[Saab34]

I use Google flights which also included some surrounding airports, in this case MCY for Bonza. I cannot see these flights on Google.

Webjet isn't one to ignore. Revenue is about $4 billion plus.

 

[cambriamarsh]

They did say they are offering fares via travel agents, I assume that excludes online agents. Rex had some success with going with Webjet from memory. Even Tiger was on there, would be mad to avoid that. Domestic flights are generally all 0% commission anyway, its the agents chasing the add ons and fees.

Can't believe it's app only but it is! Is there any other airline globally that does that? What is the point? It appears to deliberately removing access to a revenue source.

 

[jakeseven7]

Are the people who run these things/make these decisions so disconnected from what the average punter wants and how they get their information? I am guessing they have done a heap of analytics on their strategy, but may be just confirmation bias.

It’s a little odd.

Maybe if they were doing cap city runs only…. But they are targeting regional routes only where tech and app adoption may be a little bit behind the inner city latte crowd.

I suspect their thinking is ‘Well no one else flies the route so people will be forced to come to us and our app ’ which personally I think is flawed because it assumes people even know they exist. And as we know from Rex (who?) building awareness takes time and $$$.

 

[BAM1748]

Can't believe it's app only but it is! Is there any other airline globally that does that? What is the point? It appears to deliberately removing access to a revenue source.

That's me out of their market right there.

 

[henrus]

They've just released seats on the first flight tomorrow morning if anyone is interested. There are also seats on the return meaning a day trip to Proserpine from the Sunshine Coast tomorrow is now possible!

 

[Saab34]

I reckon the first route might be the worst route but will see how it goes. Looks like it’s financially assisted by the council, local tourism body also.

 

[eastwest101]

Can't believe it's app only but it is! Is there any other airline globally that does that? What is the point? It appears to deliberately removing access to a revenue source.

App only = commercial suicide in my opinion.

Not having a booking presence on the internet means they are creating a point of friction where the customer has to install the app for an airline that not many are aware of, and (even if potential customers are aware of the airline existing) the question would be:

"How come I can't see Bonza fares on Webjet/GoogleFlights/Expedia/Kayak etc? Oh well - looks like they aren't flying yet, may as well book another airline."

 

[dajop]

"How come I can't see Bonza fares on Webjet/GoogleFlights/Expedia/Kayak etc? Oh well - looks like they aren't flying yet, may as well book another airline."

Given Bonza's target market, and that they're so niche, the option is probably going to be "may as well drive and take my holidays at XYZ instead .... " People looking for a $110 fare are probably not going to be the same group that will automatically book another airline for $300+ connecting via MEL/SYD/BNE to get to the place they may or may not want to go to.

I can see why Bonza might not bother with a web booking portal of their own, but it would seem to make heaps of sense to pick 2-3 TA partners to make availablity on the web (FC, WJ, expedia).

 

[Revenge]

I can see why Bonza might not bother with a web booking portal of their own, but it would seem to make heaps of sense to pick 2-3 TA partners to make availablity on the web (FC, WJ, expedia).

I don't know how it works in the industry, I'm just speculating as an outsider, but I suspect to sell on those sites, you need to have a GDS (Global distribution system - Wikipedia) like Amadeus. And I bet they don't, to save money. I think some of the ULCCs in the US are the same.

 

[dajop]

I don't know how it works in the industry, I'm just speculating as an outsider, but I suspect to sell on those sites, you need to have a GDS (Global distribution system - Wikipedia) like Amadeus. And I bet they don't, to save money. I think some of the ULCCs in the US are the same.

I'm sure you are right about saving money by not joining a GDS.

In US, the big three ULCC's (Allegiant, Spirit and Frontier), and the newcomer, Breeze, and the Canadian ULCC, flair, all appear on Kayak with pricing. Southwest is the absent one, they come through as informational only on Kayak - you can see the flight exists but need to go through to Southwest website to book (which used to be PITA if you had a non-US IP address).

 

[henrus]

Some photos from this morning.

A delayed departure for sure due to lots of media and speeches.

The seat pitch even down the back is not bad. Every seat has a usb slot plus power between seats. Can confirm new plane smell is a real thing.

 

[henrus]

Apparently there are only 5 paying passengers this morning (myself and 4 others), everyone else is media/an invited guest.

 

[justinbrett]

Any freebies?

You'd think at least the food onboard will be free

 

[Blackadder]

A rather auspicious start to flying for Bonza it seems.
Report of 5 paying passengers, and a delay to the inaugural service.
Will be interesting tracking the OTR over the first month or so.

 

[jrfsp]

Bonza proves Joyce wrong to sell 10,000 seats in 3 days

The strong sales come despite Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce publically doubting whether a 'point to point' airline could work in Australia.

australianaviation.com.au

10,000 seats sold in 3 days.

 

[moa999]

Apparently there are only 5 paying passengers this morning (myself and 4 others), everyone else is media/an invited guest.

Any YouTubers?

 

[henrus]

Any freebies?

Cardboard Bonza thumb and a Sunshine Coast water bottle.

You'd think at least the food onboard will be free

Yes all food and drinks free onboard. Normally ordered via the app but everyone was asked if they wanted anything. (Edit - I think people might have still been paying, not sure as it was done through a person though).

A rather auspicious start to flying for Bonza it seems.
Report of 5 paying passengers, and a delay to the inaugural service.

The delay was due to everyone taking photos plus multiple people making boarding announcements.

The small number of paying passengers is due to them blocking all seats. They only released paying seats last minute yesterday morning. Every first flight to each destination is the same, very close to departure they’ll release paid seats.

 

[Saab34]

How does the ordering via the app work? Is it wifi onboard or something?

 

[henrus]

How does the ordering via the app work? Is it wifi onboard or something?

Correct a local network. Apologies for the long post, I’ll edit later but this is the full menu. You pay via credit card on the app. The wifi network doesn’t have an external connection (although this is being looked into). It also has some entertainment but this is limited to some basic games, free podcasts and a couple of ebooks.