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Australia’s newest budget airline has ramped up its fleet size 50 per cent in a deal with Canadian airline company Flair.
Bonza will lease two aircraft from Flair, boosting its fleet size from four to six, as it tries to stabilise its position in a competitive airline market following a turbulent few months in the skies.
Since launching in early 2023, the company has cancelled routes and flights and rejigged its scheduling as customer complaints pile up over the struggling carrier’s service.
Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan said the new aircraft would help the company scale up its operations and better meet customer demands.
“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,” he said on Tuesday.
“Now that we have approval for the two additional aircraft, we’re scaling up our operations.”
Jetstar, another low-cost carrier, has more than 90 aircraft in its fleet.
The Gold Coast serves as a hub for Bonza, with several routes going through the star tourist town, including flights into Tasmania.
The two Flair aircraft will only service destinations in and out of the Gold Coast, while the other four aircraft, which the company owns, will service the company’s entire network, including its Sunshine Coast and Melbourne bases.
“At Bonza we focus our attention on unserved or underserved markets, with 80-90 per cent of our routes not served by other airlines,” Mr Jordan said.
“Our approach to aviation delivers low-cost non-stop choices to consumers who previously stayed home due to expensive airfares or had to fly via a major hub on another airline and none of us want to do that.
“We’re doing everything we can to improve the current state of play of Aussie aviation by bringing equal access through lower fares to more destinations around this great country.”
To mark the expanded fleet size, Bonza is offering flyers a 30 per cent discount on tickets to Mackay and the Whitsundays, with its new Gold Coast to the Whitsundays Coast route opening from Tuesday.
The Whitsundays boasts a string of popular beaches and islands in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef.
The Mackay region is known as a hub for the coal-rich Bowen Basin and a gateway to its own set of tourism jewels, including Eungella National Park about an hour west of Mackay.
Bonza flights are booked through the company’s Fly Bonza app rather than a standard website.
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