Bonza warns Gold Coast passengers of further disruptions, rival Jetstar swoops in with special fares

A rival airline has swooped in to help travellers affected by a series of shock cancellations to Bonza’s Gold Coast services. Here’s what they’re offering.

Jetstar is offering special low fares to passengers impacted by the cancellation of Bonza flights from the Gold Coast.

Travellers were left scrambling to rearrange their summer holiday travel plans after Bonza scrapped flights from the city to Darwin and Avalon Airport in Geelong.

Also affected were flights to Bundaberg, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Mildura.

A failure to get regulatory approval for the operation of two ‘wet lease’ aircraft from Canadian airline Flair was blamed for the cancellations.

Jetstar, which is the biggest airline operating from Gold Coast Airport, has now release special fares for affected Bonza customers wishing to travel to Avalon and Cairns.

The airline said it was offering one way fares of $117 to Avalon and $174 to Cairns until December 31.

To access the fares, customers would need to contact the airline via its ‘live chat’ service with a copy of their original Bonza booking for a cancelled flight.

Bonza CEO Tim Jordan said the airline “deeply apologised” for the cancellations.

“As we’ve previously shared, in the short term we will use an aircraft leased from our partner Flair at our Gold Coast base while we recruit Aussie crew for this third base,” Mr Jordan said.

“This arrangement brings with it a separate regulatory approval process. That process is progressing but is not yet complete and, as a result, we’ve had to make the regrettable decision to defer some routes to/from the Gold Coast and are also making some additional cancellations to other routes this week.”

PREVIOUSLY

Bonza has warned of further cancellations for routes flying out of the Gold Coast weeks from Christmas amid widespread scrapping of direct flights.

Passengers flying in and out of the Gold Coast on the embattled budget airline have been forced to find an alternative service over the festive season. Flights impacts to and from the Glitter Strip include Darwin, Bundaberg, Avalon, Cairns, the Whitsundays and Mildura.

The low-cost airline has provided no start date on when the services will resume for some Gold Coast services.

Bonza announced the cancellation of Gold Coast-Darwin on Thursday, just hours before the maiden voyage was set to take off from the Northern Territory, after being announced in September.

Bonza cancelled three out of four Gold Coast services on Monday. Cairns, Melbourne and Bundaberg flights were all cancelled.

The low cost carrier also cancelled its Avalon flight AB1620, flying into the Gold Coast airstrip at midday on Tuesday.

Tim Jordan, CEO of Bonza warns Gold Coast passengers of further disruptions this December. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Bonza CEO Tim Jordan said the airline had been struggling to recruit Australian staff for their Gold Coast services.

“As we’ve previously shared, in the short term we will use an aircraft leased from our partner Flair at our Gold Coast base while we recruit Aussie crew for this third base,” Mr Jordan said.

“This arrangement brings with it a separate regulatory approval process. That process is progressing but is not yet complete and, as a result, we’ve had to make the regrettable decision to defer some routes to/from the Gold Coast including Bundaberg and are also making some additional cancellations to other routes this week.”

Mr Jordan said the new start date for impacted routes was being worked through.

“But we remain very committed to offering a service to regional Australia and deeply apologise for having to make this decision,” he said.

Mr Jordan said the airline was aware of the impact to travellers and apologised to customers.

“At this point our priority is to inform our impacted customers as efficiently as possible so that they can make alternative arrangements.

“Customers will be contacted by us in date order (based on their date of travel) and will be automatically offered a full refund,” he said.

Bonza began flights between Darwin and the Sunshine Coast this week and had promised to deliver two return services between Gold Coast and Darwin per week for travellers.