New 'Bonza' LCC launches middle 2022 with B737 MAX
Did Impulse fail did it?
In any case, no one serves Ballarat as the runway is not long enough to provide even viable turboprop service.
If Bonza are going to Tamworth, then The Rat would be viable, if they are going to Coffs, then The Rat would be viable, if they are going to..............
The Rat is a nice place with plenty of tourism to go around. And it would also keep the flight crew IMC current

I'm pretty sure that in a previous post I said the aerodrome has the local councils support and they were angling for grants to upgrade the north south runway. Looking to upgrade it for jet ops, in particular the firefighting jets. There's is plenty of room for the land to be resumed and returned to a runway.
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You're saying that they're now looking for money to reverse all of that plus upgrade the re-extended runway?
Plans look great, then you see a major housing estate under both the 18 and 36 departure paths, good luck getting that approved... As soon as anything starts to move forward there will be a local anti airport movement in those estates. Unless you can draft in some sort of 500ft turn to the west in the departure profiles to appease the locals. Any mention of regular jet or turboprop movements will get the locals attention, like everywhere else (see Tyabb whenever runway works are mentioned). Most of the talk in that plan is about extending the runway for emergency services use, ie firebombers.
Geelong/Surf Coast is bigger and probably needs a airport down Armstrong Creek way, that region is what 350,000 plus now. Geelong did have an airport down that way with significant land around it until sold to developers.
Avalon has not really been a success story, with Jetstar and AirAsia both surviving off Andrews taxpayer grants. Poor location.
Avalon has not really been a success story, with Jetstar and AirAsia both surviving off Andrews taxpayer grants. Poor location.
All of these proposed (and existing, in Avalon's case) 'secondary airports' have the same issue. The vast majority of Melbourne's population (and an even larger majority of those likely to travel often) live on the Eastern side of the CBD. Tulla is already enough of a PITA to get to for most.
If a secondary airport is going to succeed it needs to be in the East. Although there aren't many good options on where to put it (and survive the NIMBYs).
If a secondary airport is going to succeed it needs to be in the East. Although there aren't many good options on where to put it (and survive the NIMBYs).
Moorabbin had 3 airlines at one point servicing Tasmania and a variety of other routes. Only one remains which pretty much only does King Island now, lack of airport upgrades and suitable replacement aircraft slowly sent them all broke bar the one. For a secondary airport to be successful it has to be either much cheaper than the incumbent or similar price and much more convenient. Avalon was same price to slightly cheaper and less convenient, Moorabbin was more expensive but slightly more convenient. Then you have to climb the mountain of Australias brand loyalty mentality, which is slowly wearing down, but still a major factor in choice of airline. Then you have other factors like connections to other services and such, which comes into the convenience area. Regional airlines must have low transit time for passengers to catch domestic and international services and so on.
To the doomsayers out there wondering how Bonza will fill flights on slim looking pairs, I think Bonza may have a very large ace up their sleeve..
In my opinion Bonza (at Maroochydore) are setting up a north Brisbane hub
They have announced 19 sectors per week south of Maroochydore along with 18 sectors to the north
When they release their timetable, you will find that on most days, 2-3 flights will arrive from the north, then head south and the same will happen in reverse
So for example
Don't look at just Mildura, Albury, Coffs, Port Maq, Newcastle or Melbourne to Maroochydore
Look at all of those destinations following on to
Cairns, Townsville, Whitsunday, Mackay and Rocky
This extra set of 35 1 stop pairs via their first hub at Maroochydore will ensure that their planes will be fuller than if they were to try to survive on their direct only flights
Instant transfers in a smaller terminal with cheaper fees than Brisbane
This also explains why they did not announce Sydney amongst their initial launch routes as they are holding out for SWA
Further hubs may well include Newcastle, Avalon and Wellcamp
Watch this space..........
In my opinion Bonza (at Maroochydore) are setting up a north Brisbane hub
They have announced 19 sectors per week south of Maroochydore along with 18 sectors to the north
When they release their timetable, you will find that on most days, 2-3 flights will arrive from the north, then head south and the same will happen in reverse
So for example
Don't look at just Mildura, Albury, Coffs, Port Maq, Newcastle or Melbourne to Maroochydore
Look at all of those destinations following on to
Cairns, Townsville, Whitsunday, Mackay and Rocky
This extra set of 35 1 stop pairs via their first hub at Maroochydore will ensure that their planes will be fuller than if they were to try to survive on their direct only flights
Instant transfers in a smaller terminal with cheaper fees than Brisbane
This also explains why they did not announce Sydney amongst their initial launch routes as they are holding out for SWA
Further hubs may well include Newcastle, Avalon and Wellcamp
Watch this space..........
To the doomsayers out there wondering how Bonza will fill flights on slim looking pairs, I think Bonza may have a very large ace up their sleeve..
In my opinion Bonza (at Maroochydore) are setting up a north Brisbane hub
They have announced 19 sectors per week south of Maroochydore along with 18 sectors to the north
When they release their timetable, you will find that on most days, 2-3 flights will arrive from the north, then head south and the same will happen in reverse
So for example
Don't look at just Mildura, Albury, Coffs, Port Maq, Newcastle or Melbourne to Maroochydore
Look at all of those destinations following on to
Cairns, Townsville, Whitsunday, Mackay and Rocky
This extra set of 35 1 stop pairs via their first hub at Maroochydore will ensure that their planes will be fuller than if they were to try to survive on their direct only flights
Instant transfers in a smaller terminal with cheaper fees than Brisbane
This also explains why they did not announce Sydney amongst their initial launch routes as they are holding out for SWA
Further hubs may well include Newcastle, Avalon and Wellcamp
Watch this space..........
In my opinion Bonza (at Maroochydore) are setting up a north Brisbane hub
They have announced 19 sectors per week south of Maroochydore along with 18 sectors to the north
When they release their timetable, you will find that on most days, 2-3 flights will arrive from the north, then head south and the same will happen in reverse
So for example
Don't look at just Mildura, Albury, Coffs, Port Maq, Newcastle or Melbourne to Maroochydore
Look at all of those destinations following on to
Cairns, Townsville, Whitsunday, Mackay and Rocky
This extra set of 35 1 stop pairs via their first hub at Maroochydore will ensure that their planes will be fuller than if they were to try to survive on their direct only flights
Instant transfers in a smaller terminal with cheaper fees than Brisbane
This also explains why they did not announce Sydney amongst their initial launch routes as they are holding out for SWA
Further hubs may well include Newcastle, Avalon and Wellcamp
Watch this space..........
I think you missed the point in that LCCs don’t generally offer transfer services. Two separate bookings and hope for the best, or via the other two that offers an insurance policy as such should things go south. By the time one adds baggage and everything else, for two bookings transfer, generally cheaper and safer to go via the other two.
Should they opt for the connection model, it’s gets very expensive if your dealing with displaced connecting traffic, and the next flight is in 3 or 4 days.
Should they opt for the connection model, it’s gets very expensive if your dealing with displaced connecting traffic, and the next flight is in 3 or 4 days.
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Considering baggage collection and check in is basically next to each other at the MCY terminal, there probably wouldn't be a need for Bonza to implement a interline model. Just sell combined insurance in case their flights run late to MCY or MEL, thus missing their 'connection' if they chose to buy a xxx-MCY/MEL-xxx trip (which would require passengers collecting the baggage in MEL or MCY then re-checking for their onward flight anyway as part of the ULCC model).
They don’t even have an aircraft in the country yet, no photos have surfaced from Seattle either. Tiger had its first aircraft arrive 6 weeks prior to AOC proving flight.
Will be challenges I would assume having CAE essentially operating the AOC operational side of things, I’ve not seen that done before with CASA. They won’t have a single pilot on the Bonza payroll as such (well yet, we will see how that pans out over time..)
They would need a good month with the aircraft here, and crews online ready to go, before attempting a proving flight. I would be more conservative and allow 6-8 weeks. I can see CASA being very close to the fine detail in this one, they won’t want a repeat of the Tiger mess. If Bonza isn’t prepared then it’s going to drag on and the questions from CASA will continue to pile up.
Will be challenges I would assume having CAE essentially operating the AOC operational side of things, I’ve not seen that done before with CASA. They won’t have a single pilot on the Bonza payroll as such (well yet, we will see how that pans out over time..)
They would need a good month with the aircraft here, and crews online ready to go, before attempting a proving flight. I would be more conservative and allow 6-8 weeks. I can see CASA being very close to the fine detail in this one, they won’t want a repeat of the Tiger mess. If Bonza isn’t prepared then it’s going to drag on and the questions from CASA will continue to pile up.