Bonza holds off on summer holiday bookings

The budget airline is holding off taking bookings beyond late October, in a move that has surprised some travellers.

Bonza Airlines has paused taking bookings beyond late October, as it reworks its network following multiple route cuts.

Low-cost carrier Bonza is currently not taking bookings beyond October as the airline reworks its schedule following multiple route cuts.

The short window for bookings has surprised some potential passengers, seeking to fly Bonza in the summer holiday period.

The majority of airlines allow bookings up to 12-months in advance and make network adjustments as necessary.

Bonza chief commercial officer Carly Povey said travellers would be able to book flights beyond October until Easter 2024, from next month.

“The schedule that travellers can expect to go on sale is aligned to our revised schedule that comes into operation from August 1, including 16 destinations and 22 routes,” Ms Povey said.

“The starting fares remain the same with flights from $49 to $89 per person one way.”

The US-owned airline announced last week it was cutting back from 27 routes and 17 destinations due to poor demand.

Those affected included the Sunshine Coast to Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and Tamworth; Cairns to Mackay and Toowoomba to the Whitsundays.

Other routes faced a reduction in frequency from three to two flights a week, while the Sunshine Coast to Albury, Sunshine Coast to Avalon and Melbourne to Port Macquarie would score an extra weekly service.

Travellers with bookings on axed routes were promised full refunds if an alternative flight was not possible.

As well as the problem of low patronage on certain routes, Bonza was struggling to avoid cancellations due to its small fleet of four Boeing 737 Max 8.

Bonza planned to ‘paint the skies purple’ ahead of its launch earlier this year. Picture: Alex Coppel

Ms Povey said the smaller network would allow one aircraft to remain on standby to “step in” adding resilience to their operations.

Bonza was expecting to increase its fleet size to eight, but it was not clear when more aircraft would begin to arrive.

A spokeswoman confirmed the new schedule to be released next month was designed for their current fleet size, and would be adjusted as new 737-8s were delivered.

Ms Povey said a third base for the airline, in addition to the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne, would be announced in “coming weeks and months” so they could start recruiting people before more flights were put on sale.

“The operation of the third base will involve additional aircraft to our current fleet of four,” said Ms Povey.

Plans for the low-cost carrier were announced in October 2021, but commercial passenger flights only began in late January this year, after delays in regulatory approval.

Since then, more than 330,000 bookings have been received through the FlyBonza app, which has been downloaded more than 1.25 million times.

The airline spokeswoman said downloads had continued at a steady rate since route cuts were flagged last week, and they were expecting strong demand for the summer holiday period.

Bonza’s business model involved the airline operating on routes not flown by other airlines or at least other low-cost carriers, with the exception of a few out of Melbourne.

Owner 777 Partners recently told The Australian they remained “steadfast in our support of the airlines we work with”.

As well as Bonza, the Miami-based investment firm held stakes in Canada’s Flair Airlines and was in the process of taking a share of South Korea’s Eastar airlines.

Originally published as Bonza holds off on summer holiday bookings