Bonza catches Matildas mania and promises to name next plane after women’s soccer team

Qantas may be the Matildas’ ‘official airline’ but low-cost carrier Bonza is jumping on the bandwagon with plans to name its next aircraft after the women’s soccer team.

Low-cost carrier Bonza has jumped on the Matildas bandwagon, announcing it will name its next aircraft after Australia’s trailblazing women’s soccer team.

“Matilda” is set to join Shazza, Bazza, Sheila and Malc in the Bonza fleet when the airline’s fifth Boeing 737 Max 8 is delivered next year.

Bonza noted that the move was subject to regulatory approval – and could face opposition from Qantas, which is the official airline for the Matildas and the Socceroos.

Qantas declined to comment on Thursday.

Bonza chief commercial officer Carly Povey said as an airline focused “solely on Australia” it seemed fitting to christen their next aircraft Matilda.

“Like the rest of the nation, our team of legends has been gripped by Matilda mania thanks to their sportsmanship, mateship with one another and their pride in wearing the green and gold,” said Ms Povey.

“From all of us here at Bonza, congratulations and well done to the Matildas for what you’ve achieved on and off the pitch.”

Australia’s newest airline Bonza has promised to name its next aircraft Matilda.

She said naming Bonza’s planes had “personified the aircraft and given them all unique personalities among the airline’s team and customers”.

Naming planes is not new, with many other airlines also bestowing place, people and animal names on their aircraft – since 1926 in the case of Qantas.

The flying kangaroo has a Boeing 787-9 called “Waltzing Matilda” and is currently considering entries in a competition to name new A220s after Australian native wildlife.

Bonza’s next 737-8 will be stationed on the Gold Coast, which Bonza recently announced as its third home base, along with Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne.

Flights from the Gold Coast have now been added to the Bonza app, along with services across the summer holiday period to 17 locations in the eastern states.

It followed a number of route cuts by Bonza in response to poor patronage, and a “pause” on bookings beyond October.

Flights between the Sunshine Coast and Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and Tamworth, plus Cairns to Mackay and Toowoomba to Whitsundays were axed on August 1.

However Bonza has now added 11 routes out of the Gold Coast, including to Albury, Avalon, Melbourne, Cairns, Mackay and Whitsundays.

Since late January, about 400,000 bookings had been made through the Fly Bonza app, after nearly 1.25 million downloads.

In an effort to improve on-time performance and cancellations, Bonza was keeping one of its four aircraft as a “spare” in the event of technical issues with any of the other three.

Airline CEO Tim Jordan had been expecting to take delivery of eight 737-8s in their first year but that now appeared unlikely, partly due to a shortage of pilots.

Bonza is owned by Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners, which also has a stake in Canadian low-cost carrier Flair and has been in talks to acquire 10 per cent of South Korea’s Eastar Jet.