Bonza: New low-cost airline reveals cause of multiple flight cancellations across Australia

The nation’s newest airline has been dealing with multiple cancellations — a big problem for a company entering previously unserviced routes. Now the reason behind the woes has been revealed.

Australia’s newest airline Bonza has revealed a nationwide pilot shortage as one of the key reasons the ultra-budget carrier has been forced to cancel 4 per cent of past flights, and at least seven future trips, across its network.

Bonza, which opened dozens of new routes earlier this year using planes based out of the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne, has been struck by multiple cancellations in recent weeks as well as scuppering flights weeks in advance.

The 4 per cent cancellation result, which has been described as “too high” by the company, is double the long-term industry average, but still far below airlines like Jetstar (8.1 per cent for April).

Bonza has cancelled 4 per cent of its flights since February.

However, it comes just a month after Toowoomba passengers had flights cancelled to Townsville that left them unable to find alternatives, due to Bonza choosing to service mostly routes without competitors to offer a replacement service.

The cancellations have included a return flight from Melbourne to Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, which left Darling Downs residents needing to find a circuitous way back home since no other major airline serviced the route.

“Got the message (of cancellation) three hours before we were due to come home — now have to get to Brisbane and work out how to get home there,” one Toowoomba resident posted on social media on June 19.

Toowoomba resident Snow Green had booked a holiday to the Whitsundays in July, only to be told this week the flights had also been cancelled.

He said Bonza needed to not only fix its reliability but also clean up its refund policy to earn back his trust.

“They said we’d get a refund within one to 21 days, which is not good enough,” Mr Green said.

“The difference with our situation is there is no other flight you can take from Toowoomba to Whitsundays.

“We want Bonza to succeed but if they’re going to keep cancelling flights, we’re not going to use them again.”

The latest cancellation figure was higher than the airline’s 0.5 per cent figure reported for April by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in its June industry report – which was the lowest of all major carriers.

Bonza chief commercial officer Carly Povey said the company was committed to reducing the figure with its remaining flights already available.

Carly Povey, Chief Commercial Officer at Bonza. Picture: Supplied

“People love our brand new planes, all Aussie menu and cabin crew legends (but) we also know that in the past couple of months, not everyone has had a good experience with Bonza and we need to stare directly into why that is,” she said.

“We’ve recently been challenged with crew shortages due to our pilot training program being behind schedule.

“We’ve also had aircraft out of action for additional maintenance checks following unforeseeable events like bird strikes and weather.

“All of this has led to regrettable cancellations for customers including seven flights that have been cancelled in future dates in July.”

Ms Povey said while the June 19 Melbourne flight’s cancellation had been due to “unforeseen maintenance requirements”, the slate of other flights being scrapped were because of delays in the airline’s pilot training program, an issue seen across the board in the aviation industry.

“Clearly training is dependent on flying and sadly there is a direct correlation between the two issues,” she said.

“We have a job to do in earning the respect of Toowoomba residents, and for that reason, we are committed to reducing cancellations.

“We are accelerating our pilot training program, undertaking ongoing recruitment to allow additional standby crew and to use spare aircraft capacity where it is available.”

Ms Povey said Bonza decided to cancel future trips to give passengers enough time to find other arrangements or cancel their trips.

Bonza optimistic about forward bookings

Bonza CEO Tim Jordan. Photo: News Corp Australia

The ACCC has revealed pilot shortages were a significant concern for the industry, which have placed pressure on Bonza to fast-track its training program.

In its June report on the sector, based on data collected in April, the commission argued there were not enough people being trained to meet the loss of experienced pilots overseas.

“The Australian and International Pilots Association and the Australian Federation of Air Pilots have recently reported that hundreds of experienced pilots are leaving Australia for overseas roles, including under the US Government’s E3 Visa program,” the report said.

The ACCC expressed optimism about Bonza’s potential to service existing competitive routes in the future, while noting Qantas and Virgin still carried 94 per cent of all passengers in Australia.

In fact, the consumer watchdog was highly critical of the major carriers’ “duopoly” over the domestic market, which Bonza had yet to dent due to its desire to focus on previously-unserviced routes.

“Qantas Group and Virgin Australia did not face any competition from an independent airline on the major routes,” the report said.

“Unlike the period of price wars in the earlier part of the decade, the airlines did not compete as rigorously, both appearing content with their respective shares of the market.

“After two decades of what has essentially been a duopoly between Qantas and Virgin, there is now an opportunity for the industry to enter a more competitive era.

“To realise this opportunity, Rex and Bonza would need to not only succeed with their current plans, but expand further into the future.”

Bonza CCO Carly Povey said the airline was optimistic for the rest of 2023 based on forward bookings, with flights to be available until March next year.

“We have solid forward bookings until October and soon we will have flight on sale up until March 2024,” she said.

“So far, flights between Melbourne Tullamarine and Toowoomba Wellcamp are the most popular for the region, followed by Townsville and Whitsunday Coast routes in that order.”

Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport general manager Kellie Banditt was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Bonza: New low-cost airline reveals cause of multiple flight cancellations across Australia