‘Bonza’, Australia’s new ultra-low-cost airline, announce route network

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This week, Bonza has announced the 16 destinations and 25 routes it will be flying. Most of which will fly to small regional destinations.

25 new routes

Last year, Bonza set out its mission statement: to offer point-to-point travel on routes currently underserved by Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin and Rex. They announced their route schedule earlier this week and it has not disappointed. The 16 destinations offered will be Albury, Avalon, Bundaberg, Cairns, Coffs Harbour, Gladstone, Mackay, Melbourne, Mildura, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba Wellcamp, Townsville and the Whitsunday Coast.

Of the routes available, 80% are entirely unserved, and 96% are unserved by any low-cost airline. Bonza’s main base will be Sunshine Coast Airport, and they’ll have a second base in Melbourne. Each will house two aircraft. Melbourne is currently the only major city that Bonza will fly from. CEO Tim Jordan said:

Since announcing Bonza to the world late last year, we’ve always said we wouldn’t just fly between Australia’s three largest cities and instead give people in the regions more choice. Today we deliver on that promise, with the largest launch announcement in Australian aviation history.

From our two bases on the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne, we will give Aussies more options at ultra-low fares to explore their own backyard. With destinations ranging from Albury to the Whitsundays, travellers will now be able to fly, instead of impossibly long road trips as well as fly direct without a stopover in a major city. Aussies can look forward to enjoying more time at their destination and spending less of their hard earned cash getting there in the first place.

“an ultra-low cost airline”

Bonza has said their ticket pricing will be in line with Jetstar’s, and that a one-hour flight will cost 50AUD on average. Bonza chief commercial officer Carly Povey said the carrier was an “an ultra-low cost airline” that would probably only offer a small number of flights from each of its locations:

You won’t see from Bonza five, six, or seven flights a day — you’ll see two, three, four flights a week.

This is true of all the new routes, except Cairns to Sunshine Coast, which will be flying five times a week. In total, Bonza will be running 37 flights per week.

Currently, all of the destinations are on the East coast, with no flights to Northern Territory, Western Australia, Tasmania or South Australia. But with the newcomer intending to obtain eight aircraft in their first year, we will likely see more routes start to appear. Jordan has said the airline hopes to begin operations mid-year.

What are your thoughts on the new low-cost airline? Let us know in the comments below!