Bonza cancels flights ahead of Christmas

Bonza’s horror run of cancellations has continued, with a new route between Gold Coast and Melbourne delayed indefinitely, just ahead of Christmas.

Aussies planning on travelling between the Gold Coast and Melbourne this month may have to rethink their Christmas plans as Bonza cancels flights.

The budget airline, which was due to begin flights between the Gold Coast and Melbourne’s Avalon airport, has delayed the new route indefinitely.

Bonza has stated that aircraft unavailability caused the cancellations, with full refunds offered to more than 400 affected customers.

This is a horror run for the struggling airline, as just last month a paperwork bungle forced some travellers to fork out $4000 to get home after 10 per cent of its flights were cancelled.

The fledgling airline based on the Sunshine Coast slashed services, blaming staff illness and a lightning strike.

But the company failed to get approval to fly a leased aircraft from Canada’s Flair airlines, which was meant to be a key part of its expanded Gold Coast services launched in November.

The jet landed in Australia at a few weeks ago, but it still does not have permission from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to take off.

Bonza has now made a last minute move to charter a Boeing 737-700 from Nauru Airlines, which has a certificate to fly in Australia.

Caitlyn Harvey had to pay $4000 to get her family home after Bonza cancelled her flight. Picture: Supplied

“Bonza apologises for the inconvenience caused, we know how much a cancellation can impact customers and that’s why it only happens as an absolute last resort,” chief executive Tim Jordan told this masthead.

“Eleven out of 110 flights have been cancelled in the period of Friday, 24 November – Tuesday, 28 November, making that 10% of Bonza flights in that period.

“The reason for these operational cancellations were unexpected crew illness and unforeseen severe weather events including a lightning strike that required additional maintenance checks on an aircraft.”

But Mr Jordan conceded that the delays to CASA approvals for the leased aircraft had been part of the problem, with both the 787-MAX and its Canadian crew needing to get signed off.

“Our spare aircraft is temporarily being used at the Gold Coast, whilst we work through CASA approval to induct the Flair crew and aircraft into our operations until February, this has unfortunately led to further disruptions,” he said.

“To reduce the impact to customers, we’ve chartered a Boeing 737-700 from our mates at Nauru Airlines, who are Brisbane-based, so that we can get customers to their destinations.”

Bonza has been waiting for approval to fly a 787-MAX jet that it has leased from Canada’s Flair airlines, which arrived before November 13.

The aircraft came with a Canadian crew, known in the industry as a wet lease, which raised eyebrows with Australia’s flight attendants union who said the jobs should be done by locals.

Another aircraft from Flair was due to be delivered to Bonza in December.

Tim Jordan, CEO of Bonza, arriving on Bonza's inaugural Gold Coast to Townsville flight. Picture: Shae Beplate

Both Bonza and Flair share the investor 777 Partners, which owns the aircraft and has been accused of overcharging its subsidiaries for leasing in a court claim filed in Delaware Court of Chancery by its former employee Timothy O’Neil-Dunne.

777 Partners, which also owns part of Melbourne Victory, has strongly denied the claims.

CASA said in a statement: “CASA continues to work closely with the Bonza team on their application to operate two Boeing 787-MAX aircraft in Australia.”

Caitlin Harvey was forced to pay $4000 to get her family back from Melbourne to Mackay at the weekend when her Bonza flights were cancelled.

Ms Harvey had paid for her partner and two children to fly back to Queensland with Bonza but said she was forced to fly with a different airline.

“What happens to these families who can’t afford this?” Ms Harvey told the Mackay Daily Mercury.

“What’s more, is that none of our seats are together. I have a five-year-old and we can’t even sit together during the flight.”

Another passenger, Josh, posted a video from the Virgin Lounge at Melbourne Airport on TikTok.

He said he had to pay $3000 to get from Melbourne to Mackay on Virgin after his flight was cancelled.

Bonza has already been forced to stop flying on some routes following widespread cancellations.

In July, Bonza cut flights on routes from the Sunshine Coast to Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and Tamworth, Cairns to Mackay and Toowoomba to the Whitsunday Coast.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has filed a $250 million lawsuit against Qantas over “ghost flights” that were being sold after they were cancelled.

The ACCC said it was unable to comment on whether it had received any complaints about Bonza.

But the ACCC said in a statement: “Airlines are required to meet the consumer guarantees in the Australian Consumer Law when they supply their services.

“Where services are cancelled in circumstances where the airline has not met these consumer guarantees, consumers are entitled to a remedy which may be a replacement service, credit or refund, depending on the circumstances.”

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

Australians who take out travel insurance may be eligible to get cover for cancellations or delays, depending on the policy they took out.

A spokesperson for the Insurance Council of Australia said domestic travel insurance was important because it can cover unexpected events such as flight cancellations or interruptions, as well as lost or stolen baggage.

“Whether or not domestic travel insurance policies cover expenses related to booking alternative flights after an original booking was cancelled depends on the specific policy,” the spokesperson said.

“However, many domestic travel insurance policies do include trip interruption coverage, which will reimburse the insurance customer for the cost of alternative transportation if the original flight is cancelled due to a covered reason.”

A Cover-More travel insurance spokesperson said as a general rule it did “not cover cancellations, delays or rescheduling of flights caused by transport providers/airlines, who hold responsibility for compensation”.

“The exception is where these cancellations, delays or rescheduling at cause by strikes,” the spokesperson said.

“Some of Cover-More’s policies do cover additional expenses, for example accommodation and meals, where travel is delayed for more than six hours because of unforeseen circumstances outside customers’ control, such as a cyber incident. In these cases, customers must first claim with the transport provider/airline and then request a travel insurance letter confirming details including the cause and period of the delay and the amount of compensation the transport provider/airline has offered.”

Cover-More has a blog that can help Aussies understand their rights with cancelled or delayed flights.