Australian low-fare carrier Bonza appears to be headed for bankruptcy, suspending all operations as its fleet of737 MAX 8 aircraft has been repossessed by AIP capital.The company stated today that discussions were underway “regarding the on-going viability of the business.” Bonza has been in operation only about 15 months, receiving its AOC
in January 2023.
Given the repossession, and a filing for administration in Australia, it appears Bonza is joining TigerAir, Air Australia and Ansett as the latest to fail when competing against the Qantas-Virgin Australian domestic duopoly.
Bonza is owned by a US private equity group 777 Partners, which also owns Flair Airlines based in Canada. Each carrier is trying to establish a low fare carrier in smaller markets, something that has historically proven difficult to achieve.Low fare carriers are typically successful in larger market areas, but both Canada and Australia have many fewer markets than Europe or the United States, making competition more difficult and intense.In Australia, Bonza could not gain traction against the incumbents Virgin Australia and Qantas/Jetstar.
Unlock the Full AirInsight Analysis & KPI Models
Get instant access to proprietary fleet valuation models, production & delivery forecasts, engine cost analytics, and the complete subscriber archive.
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
