Bonza’s administrators seek formal offers from interested parties

Administrators of failed budget carrier Bonza are seeking formal offers for the airline by the end of the week.

The administrators of failed budget carrier Bonza have extended the stand-down of employees until May 29, as they seek formal offers for the airline from interested parties.

A town-hall meeting of about 200 employees and administrators Hall Chadwick, said they had over 20 parties interested which they needed to “whittle down”.

Partner Kathleen Vouris said a data room had been established for prospective buyers, who were being asked to submit “proper expressions of interest” by close of business Thursday.

“That may be pushed out to Friday as we gauge interest and determine how useful the data room has been by that point,” Ms Vouris said.

She and fellow partner Jovan Singh declined to say who the interested parties were, and what aspects of the Bonza operation they were interested in.

“We obviously can’t go into the detail of the interested parties, they all have different capabilities, and we are eagerly awaiting to see what their offer might be,” said Ms Vouris.

“They need the opportunity to go through that information and that will lead to discussions with key employees, and we need to give them the opportunity to do that.”

A number of employees sought clarity on whether they could find secondary employment without destabilising their entitlements.

More than 300 of the 323 employees have not been paid for the past month, and were told they should prepare paperwork to lodge, in the event the decision was made to liquidate Bonza.

Bonza crew will remain stood down by administrators until May 29.

Ms Vouris said that would be determined at a final creditors meeting, when the administrators hoped to present various options, including a deed of company arrangement.

In the event liquidation was preferred over a DOCA, the federal government’s fair entitlements guarantee scheme would be triggered, to cover employees’ wages and leave entitlements.

The administrators were also asked what priority was given to repaying a debt of $76m to Bonza’s US owners 777 Partners, which accounted for much of the $115m owed by the airline.

Ms Vouris said 777 Partners was an unsecured creditor, and therefore ranked behind employees, and they would only get one vote at the final meeting.

The Miami-based firm was among a dozen nominations for the committee of inspection, which was to be determined by May 22.

“As I have explained before, the committee of inspection is a small representative body of creditors that the administrators can use as a sounding board throughout the administration,” said Ms Vouris.

“Creditors will have the opportunity to vote on that, and then the committee is formed, and we will look to have a meeting shortly thereafter.”

Time was of the essence, with the “currency” of pilots and cabin crew lapsing after 60 days.

Bonza appointed voluntary administrators on April 30 after the termination of leases on its Boeing 737 Max 8s.

Since then, lessor AIP Capital has taken two of the five aircraft out of the country, with “Bruce” flying to Canada and “Bazza” to Egypt.

Three others remain parked at Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast Airports.

777 Partners came on board as Bonza’s sole investor in late 2021, before the airline first took to the skies in early 2023.

Operating on routes that were mostly not serviced by other carriers, CEO Tim Jordan aimed to “democratise” air travel by bringing affordable flights to the regions.

Originally published as Bonza’s administrators seek formal offers from interested parties