Bonza Airline Discussion

[Harrison_133]

Gold Coast to Darwin now pushed back until mid-March 2024.

 

[Albert Hoffman]

Wishing they had a 14kg carry on option like Jetstar.

 

[Saab34]

Gold Coast to Darwin now pushed back until mid-March 2024.

Interesting as that is the day after CASA’s 90 day Flair deal ends. Remains to be seen what the plan is after that, they will probably cancel all the flights again. They have purely moved this date as a placeholder if you ask me.

So it would appear Flair are unable to run overnights for whatever reason.

 

[Harrison_133]

OOL-BDB & GLT seems to be cancelled for Jan 24, first available Feb 24.

Both pushed back again. Now mid-March with Darwin.

 

[Albert Hoffman]

They have purely moved this date as a placeholder if you ask me.

They are hoping (praying?) they will have new bonza aircraft and very short in supply 737max pilots trained up by then.

 

[justinbrett]

Both pushed back again. Now mid-March with Darwin.

NT News going hard against Bonza for this.

 

[Saab34]

Peak season for Darwin is April-October ish. Fares are very high. Tiger back in the day only flew seasonal. Jetstar also pulls back outside of the dry season.

Planning here isn’t that great. Many of these routes they are flying should probably be seasonal.

They need to sort out the 2024 schedule and just leave it. Surely they know what the fleet plans are for the coming year, and when to expect new aircraft.

All just seems very last minute on the planning front.

 

[p--and--t]

'A kick in the guts': Customer frustration with Bonza continues following cancellations

Budget airline Bonza continues to draw criticism from customers impacted by mass cancellations on its Darwin-Gold Coast route.

www.abc.net.au

 

[DC3]

'A kick in the guts': Customer frustration with Bonza continues following cancellations

Budget airline Bonza continues to draw criticism from customers impacted by mass cancellations on its Darwin-Gold Coast route.

www.abc.net.au

What a surprise

 

[Must...Fly!]

It'll all be forgotten if the fares are cheap enough (if Bonza survives, of course)

 

[Saab34]

Albury continues to be a standout in this whole experiment. Pretty impressive that they have been able to fill on some days near 400 seats each way ABX-OOL/MCY, when considering how many seats ABX has on non Bonza days, it’s pretty unreal to be able to move those type of numbers from such a market.

It would appear OOL-MKY/ROK/PPP are dead on arrival. I don’t think that gives much hope to GLT/BDB.

A few other original Bonza routes still seem to be struggling, especially some intra QLD routes

 

[Flyfrequently]

It would appear OOL-MKY/ROK/PPP are dead on arrival.

My brother is still holding out for MKY-OOL-MKY late February for a family celebration (he doesn't listen to his baby sister to have a back-up plan ) @Saab34

 

[Saab34]

You might be safe with those routes until the Flair deal ends, as they seem to be tied to the Flair aircraft weekly schedule, then I assume they are going once those aircraft head back.

(as they don’t have any more aircraft spare to operate)

 

[servicerequired]

Albury continues to be a standout in this whole experiment. Pretty impressive that they have been able to fill on some days near 400 seats each way ABX-OOL/MCY, when considering how many seats ABX has on non Bonza days, it’s pretty unreal to be able to move those type of numbers from such a market.

It would appear OOL-MKY/ROK/PPP are dead on arrival. I don’t think that gives much hope to GLT/BDB.

A few other original Bonza routes still seem to be struggling, especially some intra QLD routes

Good catchment area - and picking up new business that would otherwise be out on the highway behind the steering wheel ...

 

[DC3]

My brother is still holding out for MKY-OOL-MKY late February for a family celebration (he doesn't listen to his baby sister to have a back-up plan ) @Saab34

Doomed?

 

[Flyfrequently]

Doomed?

Only time will tell @DC3 it's a long drive otherwise!

 

[Harrison_133]

Albury continues to be a standout in this whole experiment. Pretty impressive that they have been able to fill on some days near 400 seats each way ABX-OOL/MCY, when considering how many seats ABX has on non Bonza days, it’s pretty unreal to be able to move those type of numbers from such a market.

On the topic of Albury, it’s the one destination that has not yet been operated by a Flair aircraft. All flights are being operated by a Bonza 737 positioning down from MCY, including today’s OOL-ABX which is again scheduled for VH-UKH. I presume it has something to do with the Flair pilots operating into Albury’s short and narrow runway?

Also, C-FLHI operated another training flight on Monday with circuits around Sunshine Coast Airport.

 

[Harrison_133]

News outlets have finally twigged about the Bundaberg and Gladstone route postponements.

7 News are reporting that because Bundaberg and Gladstone Airports have narrower runways (30m), the Flair pilots require additional training to operate into these airports.

This would also explain why OOL-ABX seems to be operating exclusively with Bonza aircraft.

 

[flydoc]

On the topic of Albury, it’s the one destination that has not yet been operated by a Flair aircraft.

ASP? DRW?

 

[Harrison_133]

ASP? DRW?

Sorry, I was referring to the destinations that are currently in operation from the Gold Coast.