Bonza airline hints at $50 flights, Coffs-Sunshine Coast

Cheap flights from Coffs Harbour on brand new aircraft are just the beginning in a homegrown success story that even boasts a link to Borat. Why you will be excited.

A local entrepreneur is in the captain’s chair of Australia’s newest airline - which will offer flights from Coffs Harbour to the Sunshine Coast for around $50.

The new venture is set to turbo boost the Coffs Coast tourist market - with as many as 38,000 passengers in and out of the city per annum.

At the helm of the start-up budget carrier Bonza airlines is Tim Jordan, who lives near Urunga.

He’s been in the area for 13 years, while his wife Simone is Nambucca through and through.

But Mr Jordan is no local yokel, having worked in the airline industry across the world - and he even has a loose link to the movie character Borat.

Bonza chief executive officer Tim Jordan: “Our positioning in the market as a low cost carrier is, essentially, if you fly for an hour, you shouldn’t be paying much more than $50.”

Bonza airlines - pending regulatory approval - will take to the skies mid-year, plying a niche market focused on what it considers to be untapped or under-serviced centres.

This includes many regional destinations, like Coffs Harbour.

While Bonza will be headquartered at the Sunshine Coast, with a large presence also in Melbourne, cities such as Coffs stand to win big time.

“Clearly, we’re operating a very large aircraft. So that, in turn, will drive an increase in visiting friends and relatives, and also more general tourism traffic, which in turn obviously drives tourism employment, and in the service industry,” Mr Jordan said.

Tim Jordan: “What we will offer is on time performance and great service on brand new aircraft.”

Bonza will have a start fleet of five 737 Max aircraft, which normally come at a cost of around $100 million US each.

“Our investors have been able to secure fantastic pricing (because of the pandemic) on brand new aircraft and that’s what we’re able to bring to all of Australia with Bonza,” he said.

While the carrier hasn’t released its fare structure, the pricing for passengers will be sharp.

“You’re going to be able to get on an aircraft for 50 bucks up to the Sunshine Coast (from Coffs),” Mr Jordan said.

“Our positioning in the market as a low cost carrier is, essentially, if you fly for an hour, you shouldn’t be paying much more than $50.”

Coffs Harbour Airport.

As it stands, most who travel from Coffs to the Sunshine Coast do so by road - but the time it takes to do that often precludes a three-day getaway.

“And that’s what we’re going to change. What we will put into the market is the ability for a long weekend in either destination,” Mr Jordan said.

Bonza’s initial service footprint will include 27 routes across 17 destinations (all of them non-metro with the exception of Melbourne).

“We’re about unserved and under-served markets. So markets which are not flown by anybody else, or markets which don’t have a low cost offering on them,” he said.

“We’re not going to have frequency or any of those other if you like bells and whistles, when it comes to the product (of competitors) - what we will offer is on time performance and great service on brand new aircraft.”

The Sunshine Coast is a fast-growing region and a largely untapped market for Coffs Harbour.

Mr Jordan has 25-plus years of low cost airline experience, including stints with Virgin Blue, in the Philippines and most recently Kazakhstan, where he started a carrier service.

The latter led to the inevitable Borat question - a double-edged sword for the Central Asian nation.

“Borat was first of all frowned upon in Kazakhstan … but amazingly he’s done more for tourism in Kazakhstan … because all of a sudden Kazakhstan was placed on the map,” he said.

While Bonza is undoubtedly on the radar of the established carriers in Australia - the start-up is brimming with ambition as the pressure of the pandemic passes.

“We have announced the routes for our first five aircraft, and subject to the regulator being happy with us, we expect to grow to up to eight aircraft in the first 12 months of operation,” Mr Jordan said.

Bonza’s full network routes.

In addition to Coffs Harbour, the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne, Bonza will service Albury, Avalon, Bundaberg, Cairns, Gladstone, Mackay, Mildura, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Rockhampton, Toowoomba Wellcamp, Townsville and the Whitsunday Coast.

“Port Macquarie is a little more fortunate in the fact that it’s actually getting a Melbourne service and it’s also getting Sunshine Coast service,” Mr Jordan said.

“But Coffs Harbour already has two airlines servicing the Melbourne market.

“But we look at the North Coast and there’s some significant opportunity to get people flying non-stop, to where they actually like to go to, rather than flying via Sydney or via Brisbane.”

For the budget-conscious travelling public and for unserviced or under-serviced regional towns,the news is “very nice”, as Borat would say.