History of Bonza airlines: Timeline of issues and dramas

Australia’s “bogan airline” has failed to truly take off since it was launched in January 2023. This is the timeline of chaos.

8 min read

July 2, 2024 - 5:15PM

QLD News

Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Australia’s “bogan airline” has failed to truly take off since it was launched in January 2023.

Bonza was billed as the perfect budget carrier but there has been nothing but drama since the company was founded by former Virgin Blue executive Tim Jordan.

From near misses to frustrated customers, this has been the sorry saga of an airline that promised so much but has crashed an burned as planes were repossessed before creditors voted to liquidate the company in July 2024.

See below the timeline of Bonza bungles >>>

Jump to see what you said about Bonza

MAY 18, 2022

New budget airline Bonza pushed back its planned takeoff in Australia from June to September due to delays in the delivery of aircraft and regulatory approvals.

Three new Boeing 737 Max 8s were expected to touchdown in July and August by which time the airline hoped to have the recruitment of flight and cabin crew finalised.

The first three jets were to be based on the Sunshine Coast with subsequent deliveries to be based in Melbourne, as part of Bonza’s 27-route regional network.

MARCH 29, 2023

Sydney Airport’s chief executive blew the whistle on a strategy being used by Qantas and Virgin Australia to keep other airlines from gaining access to Australia’s biggest gateway.

Geoff Culbert said the major domestic carriers were asking for considerably more slots than needed in Sydney and then cancelling dozens of flights.

Low-cost carrier Bonza was among the airlines that had been unable to secure well-timed slots in Sydney, which is constrained by a nightly curfew.

JULY 20, 2023

Bonza Airlines apologised directly to angry Mackay and Whitsundays customers left stranded after flight cancellations, promising to rejig its routes and frequencies to minimise future disruptions.

“We apologise to Mackay customers who have had their flights cancelled due to recent challenges and we’re working hard to right size our frequency and routes across the network to minimise disruptions to customers’ travel plans,” Bonza chief commercial officer Carly Povey said.

The budget carrier hit some turbulence in its early months of operations and announced on July 13 it would cancel the Mackay-Cairns route as it reassesses how to gain a foothold in the competitive airline market.

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Low cost carrier Bonza laid claim to the best on-time performance of any airline in the country, despite not providing information to the department that compiles monthly punctuality reports.

What does the future hold for Bonza?

“That represents a cancellation percentage of 0.34 per cent (which) is by far the lowest in the Australian domestic aviation market,” said Mr Jordan.

Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics data showed the average cancellation rate across all airlines was 3.8 per cent in August with Rex the lowest on 1.8 per cent.

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

Bonza was slammed for bringing in overseas pilots and crew to run services in Australia.

The company marketed its “all Aussie” in flight menu as “100 per cent sourced locally” and named its aircraft “Bazza”, “Shazza” and “Sheila”.

But it was flying in pilots and crews from Canada to staff flights out of its new Gold Coast base.

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Celebrations at the first flight into the Northern Territory by Bonza soured with news the second and subsequent NT flights had already been cancelled for a month.

Bonza’s first flight landed in Darwin with celebrations at the airport welcoming the dozens of passengers on board.

Hours before, in a digital message sent on behalf of Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan, the company admitted flights scheduled from the Gold Coast to Darwin had been cancelled.

DECEMBER 9, 2023

A Bonza jet earmarked to serve the airline’s Gold Coast routes was sitting idle on the tarmac while another flies services in Canada as the besieged operator cancelled dozens of flights while battling for approval from aviation regulators.

A plane bearing Bonza’s distinctive purple livery was sitting at Gold Coast Airport while its Canadian flight crew underwent “necessary training” because they do not have approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to begin operations.

On the other side of the world, a Boeing 737-8 painted in a combination of artwork for both Bonza and its partner airline Flair is making journeys across Canada instead of flying out of the Gold Coast while the impasse with Australian regulators continued.

Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan.

APRIL 22, 2024

Disgruntled passengers believed it shouldn’t be left up to the Albanese government to save budget airline Bonza, amid concerns its future is in limbo.

The low-cost carrier’s parent company called in advisers to check the finances, despite having only been in Australian skies for just 15 months.

Hundreds of News Corp readers, including passengers who have travelled on Bonza, shared their experience with the carrier and said they weren’t surprised that the airline’s future was in jeopardy.

“After my experience with Bonza, no staff on site, no bags returned for hours, the trouble runs deeper than it seems,” one said.

APRIL 23, 2024

A frustrated traveller was forced to spend $700 to change their accommodation and car hire after budget airline Bonza changed their flight arrival location to an airport more than 150km from their accommodation just days before their flight.

The traveller, who asked to only be referred to as Mark, booked a return flight from Gold Coast to Mackay, booking their car hire and accommodation at the same time for their stay in Mackay. One week before the flight, Mark was notified the flight time was changed from 8.50am to 3.00pm.

Four days before the flight, Bonza notified Mark that the destination airport was changed to Whitsunday Coast Airport, more than a two-hour drive from their accommodation. Mark stated that a shuffle bus was offered as an alternative, but the traveller would have to give up a whole day of their trip by the time they arrived at Mackay.

Bonza has lurched from one issue to another. Picture: Shae Beplate.

APRIL 26, 2024

A Bonza plane was given the all clear after a “fumes incident” meant emergency services rushed to the Sunshine Coast Airport.

Two men, part of the flight crew, were taken to the Nambour Hospital following the incident.

Emergency services were called to the airport after reports of fumes in the cockpit of the aircraft.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said the men, in their 40s and 50s, were transported to Nambour Hospital in a stable condition with minor symptoms.

APRIL 27, 2024

The honeymoon was over for Bonza as the end of sweetheart deals with Aussie airports looming as another hurdle for the besieged budget airline.

Bonza’s launch came amid much excitement of a game-changing entry into the Australian aviation sector, but the airline had since been rocked by a series of controversies damaging customer confidence.

Delayed approval from regulators, flight cancellations, last-minute schedule changes, planes sitting idle on airport runways and speculation about the operations of parent company 777 Partners plagued Bonza in recent months.

Now the airline is facing a fresh challenge, with Bonza negotiating deals over the expensive airport charges required to be allowed to operate from the nation’s airports.

The inaugural Gold Coast to Townsville flight. Picture: Shae Beplate.

APRIL 28, 2024

Struggling airline Bonza left holiday plans of a group of mostly Canadian students in disarray after cancelling flights from the Gold Coast to Melbourne and the Whitsundays.

Six friends – including four Bond University law students – had been looking forward to visiting the Victorian capital for the first time.

But just eight days from their flight, it was abruptly cancelled, leaving their plans in ruins and likely hundreds of dollars each out of pocket.

“We (have been) trying to contact Bonza, because they don’t have a phone number and they don’t have an email you can reach them at,” said Mary-Ellen Coutsoumbes, the group’s sole Australian.

APRIL 30, 2024

There was more trouble for embattled airline Bonza, with mass cancellations across the network.

The airline says it is a “temporary suspension of services”, in response to anger from passengers who arrived at airports around the country to discover their flights were no longer taking off.

On the Gold Coast, Bonza flights to Mackay, Melbourne (Avalon), Launceston and Proserpine were all cancelled.

It is a similar story on the Sunshine Coast, with Bonza cancelling flights to Newcastle and Rockhampton.

Flights to Melbourne from Rockhampton and Gladstone were also cut.

Multiple flights have been cancelled as part of what Bonza says is a “temporary suspension of services”. Picture: Shae Beplate.

A statement released by CEO Tim Jordan apologised to customers and said the airline was working as quickly as possible to determine a way forward.

MAY 2, 2024

Administrators of Bonza delivered a blow to customers promised refunds for cancelled flights, after examining the finances of the grounded airline.

Hall Chadwick was appointed administrator after Bonza’s small fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8s were repossessed by leasing company AIP Capital.

In a statement Hall Chadwick said there had been “open dialogue” with the lessor.

But there was bad news for passengers left stranded and out of pocket by the sudden cancellation of their flights.

MAY 4, 2024

Administrators for the stricken Bonza airline said they are working to secure enough funding to restart flights.

With the fleet grounded since a repossession order from the aircraft’s owners, all Bonza flights were suspended until at least May 8.

However, in a statement, a spokesperson for administrators Hall Chadwick said they remained hopeful of resuming operations.

JUNE 7, 2024

Bonza’s administrators told creditors the next two days are “critical” in terms of a potential sale of the airline with interested parties given until the close of business that week to lodge offers.

The meeting came after the last aircraft painted in the Bonza livery left the country, effectively erasing the purple thumbs up logo from the landscape.

“Sheila” registered VH-UJK was among five Boeing 737 Max 8s repossessed by lessor AIP Capital before midnight on April 29, which plunged Bonza into voluntary administration.

JUNE 11, 2024

Frustrated staff of former budget carrier Bonza lashed out at administrator Hall Chadwick after learning their jobs are being terminated but they won’t have access to any entitlements for several weeks at best.

The 323 employees had been stood down without pay since the airline went into voluntary administration on April 30, after accumulating debts in excess of $115m.

In a fiery creditors meeting, Hall Chadwick partner Kathleen Vouris told employees they had not received any offers for Bonza, and were unable to extend the stand down of staff.

JULY 2, 2024

The future of budget airline Bonza is officially over, with creditors voting to liquidate the company.

At a meeting with administrators Hall Chadwick, the upstart airline’s creditors ended the months-long saga that kicked off in late April when the company first collapsed.

“The second meeting of creditors took place today, where it was resolved to place Bonza Aviation into liquidation and that Richard Albarran, Kathleen Vouris, Brent Kijurina and Cameron Shaw be appointed as liquidators,” Hall Chadwick said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

WHAT YOU SAID

Pedro the elder

So what, the Australian Govt would come to the party to stump up the cash so the parent company has pulled the pin. The flying public are fed up with all airlines failing to deliver the service they are paying for.

Peter Graeme

I think that even Blind Freddie could see that unless you include major cities in your destinations that purely relying on regional destinations wouldn’t be viable. It’s a shame as the concept was great.

Tell Someone who cares.

When these so-called budget airlines are given permission to operate in Australia does anyone look at their financial position and operational history.

Robbo

Wrong aircraft for these thin routes. A 737 Max is too costly. Unless you include the Capital cities on your routes you will not survive.

Bonza is finished. A nice idea but not much sense in this operation. Passengers will have zero confidence now.

Pat

They were offering what we didn’t have and it appears it’s not working as they had anticipated, Thank you for trying Bonza

Realistic

Got Ansett written all over it.

William

Startups in the airline world are difficult. Compass One, Compass Two, Virgin Blue, Virgin International now possibly BONZA may join the queue. Not a good time for the staff and creditors, I wish them well.