Budget airline Bonza Aviation, which launched in January 2023, temporarily suspended its services this morning, before entering voluntary administration.
Bonza Aviation, Australia’s newest low-cost carrier, has been placed into voluntary administration, according to documents filed to ASIC.
The low-cost carrier had cancelled all flights due to be operated today (April 30th), with CEO Tim Jordan saying the company is currently mulling its future. Jordan said discussions were currently underway regarding the ongoing viability of Bonza’s business.
“We apologise to our customers who are impacted by this and we’re working as quickly as possible to determine a way forward that ensures there is ongoing competition in the Australian aviation market,” he said.
The news follows reports from The AFR that the airline’s fleet of Boeing 737-MAX 8 planes had been repossessed by creditors, and that it planned to scale back the number of flights from May 1.
Before Bonza, Jordan was the managing director of budget airline FlyArystan, the first low-cost carrier in Central Asia, based in Kazakhstan. Jordan sought to establish Bonza in Australia to inject competition into the industry, with a focus on regional holiday destinations.
Qantas and Jetstar and Virgin Australia had all offered to provide flights to stranded travellers at no cost where there were seats available. Speaking to media, Transport Minister Catherine King said a hotline had also been set up (and would be active until 10:00pm tonight) to assist passengers affected by Bonza’s grounding, and confirmed other airlines would be of assistance.
“There was some media speculation last week in terms of Bonza,” King said. “We are a small market, despite the fact we are amazing travellers and we do want to travel everywhere and all the time… It is always very difficult for new entrants.
“We are determined as a government to make everything we can do to try and improve competition.”
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