Not sure if this has been posted yet. WTF!
Iâm shocked 
Well that didnât take long.
No huge shock, they have been struggling for some time. People with industry knowledge warned them about their setup and told them it would fail if they went with the scattergun approach. Once they started getting into Qantas and Virginâs turf it was only a matter of time before they were crushed. They run a tight duopoly and control what everyone else does so it was always going to be tough in a tough market. I had heard late last week that the Canadians were on their way to reposses some of their aircraft so Iâd say itâs been on the cards for awhile
Virgin as a âgesture of goodwillâ are offering free flights to some that are affected
Aircraft being prepositioned in Brisbane for ferry flights back to north america.
Itâs all over.
Did bonza ever have a plan, or did they just want to exist for the sake of existing?
Some chatter they will enter VA and try to fight their way out of it and look at other lease options. Canât really see it happening even though the backers do have plenty of cash
They had a plan but just the wrong one. Pig headed management wouldnât listen to advice of experts on Australian aviation. Their model could work with some rejigging
Thereâs talk that their maintenance provider is owed big cash, as are the airports.
TBH, no customer will book flights with them after today anyway. Itâs not something you can recover from.
Yeah, they should have nailed the regional market rather than trying to hit up qantas and virgin major routes at the same time.
The 3 biggest own goals was
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Not having a website and bookings via app only. This cuts out plenty of internet traffic and advertising and alienates a fair whack of your core travellers.
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Over stretching the fleet.
Small fleet, just pick a couple of profitable routes and stick to them rather than take on dozens of routes with minimal random services. -
Getting tied up with Gold Coast airport. Itâs heavily saturated already and picking a fight with Qantas and Virgin is never good.
LOL good lord
Yep, they did that to apparently stop the aggregators getting data but it pretty much cut out a fair whack of people out there.
When you search on Google flights etc they didnât come up and many donât use apps.
My folks wanted to go on the Albury to Maroochydore flight for mum to see her sister and Bonza were charging $159 each way, Qantas wanted $790 each way via Sydney and no way to book Bonza apart from app so they went Qantas twice
I have flown with Bonza a few times now- to and from Albury and Melb to the Sunshine Coast.
Planes were all fully booked and service was good. I am personally very disappointed this has happened as it was great for the Sunny Coast.
Friends who are in the industry also made the same observations- too few planes for too many routes. One hiccup and the dominoes tumble.
Also agree re the app only approach. (Although I was happy to use it)
Rex flights to/from Canberra are good value.
Rex is well connected politically, one of its major shareholders is a former leader of the Nats and heads up Rex;(Sharp). There was successful pressure on the Commonwealth PS Departments to meet targets of flying a percentage of Rex compared to Virgin and Qantas. My Dept got bad marks as we used FF points from international airlines to fly no cost on the domestic flights.
IDK whether Bonza competed with Rex.
Rex shouldâve stuck to regional too.
Big mistake purchasing jets and running trunk routes as Qantas are hammering them for it. In an act of vengeance Qantas price dumped several regional routes they competed on which forced Rex to pull out of them.
Virgin and Qantas have frozen Rex out of a few major hubs too so no end to the feud in sight.
Rex are a pack of whingers too which doesnât help especially as Sharp is a moron who blames everyone else. Good thing for him the Singapore backers have deep pockets though
Definitely. Bullying and intimidation come to mind as well.
Sharp also continues to have the National Party backing him.