Bonza to recommence flights to the Gold Coast after CASA signs off on Flair aircraft and crew

Weeks after forcing customers to find alternative flights over Christmas, budget carrier Bonza has received approval from Australia’s regulators to use foreign crew and aircraft.

Bonza Airline has received approval from CASA to use aircraft and crew from Canadian carrier Flair. Picture: Tony Gough

Budget airline Bonza will resume services to and from the Gold Coast after the country’s aviation regulator approved the use of two aircraft and crew from a Canadian airline.

Earlier in December, Bonza suspended flights on several Gold Coast routes, forcing customers to find alternatives over Christmas, having not received approval to wet-lease aircraft from Canadian carrier Flair in time.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) signed off on the use of two Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft and crew from Flair after Bonza demonstrated it had safely integrated them into its operation.

“We’re pleased to have granted approval to Bonza (on Tuesday) to use Flair aircraft and crew on flights from its Gold Coast base,” a CASA spokesman said. “The Flair flights will be conducted under Bonza’s air operator’s certificate”.

An agreement was also signed between CASA and Transport Canada outlining the responsibilities of each safety authority with regard to the Flair aircraft and crew.

Bonza has confirmed that it will resume services in and out of the Gold Coast effective immediately. It has offered a 30 per cent discount on flights to the tourist destination until the end of January in a bid to win back customers.

“This is our way of acknowledging we could have done better and also shouting from the rooftops that Bonza is back,” Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan said.

Bonza’s business model is serving destinations that are not currently flown by the more established airlines.

“We know it’s been a challenging time for some of our customers who were unable to fly and to them we say we’re really sorry and we’ll learn from this and do better to deliver for Australia.”

In the short term Bonza will use the two aircraft leased from Flair to service the Gold Coast base while its other five aircraft focus on destinations from the airline’s Sunshine Coast and Melbourne bases. A wet lease is a leasing arrangement whereby one airline provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance, and insurance to another airline. Qantas has wet leased aircraft from Finnair on services between Sydney and Singapore, while Air New Zealand has planned to lease aircraft from Wamos Air on Perth flights.

Safety regulations require that an operator has comprehensive safety systems that cover things like crew training and checking, maintenance and emergency procedures. CASA could only grant approval after Bonza was able to show that it had integrated the Canadian-registered aircraft and foreign crew into their safety management framework.

Bonza runs services to/from Gold Coast to 14 destinations across Australia including: Albury, Bundaberg, Cairns, Darwin, Gladstone, Launceston, Mackay, Melbourne (Avalon), Melbourne (Tullamarine), Mount Isa, Mildura, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Whitsunday Coast.

Australia has been a tough market to crack for new airlines with a number having gone out of business including Tigerair Australia, Impulse Airlines, Compass, Air Australia and leisure carrier Australian Airlines, which folded into Jetstar in 2006 after four years of service. Virgin Australia went into administration into 2020 and Ansett collapsed in 2001 after Air New Zealand was unable to keep it afloat.