https://www.smh.com.au/business/comp...14-p59w9v.html

Some interesting choices there!

At least they have a app. Rex do not.

Fleet will be Maroochydore and Melbourne based. How long before they end up on Melbourne to Sydney. Before too long the route map will slowly start to emulate Tiger and Jetstar from Tullamarine just you watch.

Tim Jordan. Do us a fav and pay your crews ‘10% above Jetstar’. Put Sharpie and his disdain with the flight crew profession in the trash.

Good on them! Hopefully they fly the Tasman.

They could pay slightly above the award and clean out the Rex 737 crew with ease.

I reckon if I put a thread on here comparing the Lancaster with a B25 Papa Jo would be the first to respond with Rex sledging. Scratched record

It will be interesting where they will be trained up. The closest MAX sim is in Brisbane, if Virgin want to make an extra buck, next would be Singapore, not sure if Air Fiji have their own. Tim saying 6000 applications for flight and cabin crew for eight aircraft initially. I remember when Compass I and II operated with pre 89ers a mix of TAA and Ansett crews. This will be mix of Tiger, VA, JQ, and even QF crews that have lost their jobs. That would make some entertaining conversations in the deck. Pay structure will be interesting maybe similar to Flair 777Partners other venture. One more thing their colour scheme is absolute crap. The thumb sign is way too bloody bogan. I would of done something like Braniff or Frontier or follow the Central Australia/Coral Islander tradition for the new destinations.

No apologies at all. The only carrier in my entire 40 year career that I’ve seen executives publicly state to the media ‘we are going to strip all those entitlements away from Pilots that they have built up over the years’. It was sort of like an accomplishment speech. An own goal. We don’t need players like this in this country, when alternatives are on offer. I’ve actually not seen any airline on the planet state such bull****.

If Bonza looks after its employees, culture is better, then Rex can piss off to the trash can. All it’s employees would have left by that point regardless.

Have they taken any 'applications' yet, or just 'expressions of interest'?

Well said!

I have no problem with what you're saying Papa. None at all. I agree wholeheartedly. I'm just saying you are predictable, repetitive, and you've made your point over and over again.

Looking at the airport list do management know what a Boeing 737 is, or are they confusing it with some form of turboprop? There's a lot of short low number city pairs there, high cycle times with high fuel burns for a brand new not so small airliner. While some of the destinations up Northern Queensland look more promising that leaves only some 10-20 flights a week that might break even, the rest don't seem any chance.

If the marketing is done properly & the pricing is good,there may well be enough people willing to part with some $$ whereas now the regional residents know theres no point in even looking for an attractive airfare & instead jump in their car.
If the public benefit,they will respond by buying the tickets & in turn it is providing jobs to some who thought maybe their flying days were over.

All been done before, on leisure routes without commuters to the state capitals you will attract seasonal $50 fares, but nothing that will turn into profits. Marketing costs money, a lot of it, good luck if they can get it right without the big $$ spend, but it's very unlikely. JetGo proved you could fill seats and still go broke, why, because Australian regional routes do not pay enough to support jet economics, there is no scale to get the fares off the basic cheap ones to profitable margins. Virgin could not make money on Mildura-Melbourne with good loads, wrong aircraft for the route. This seems like a punt at the TAB with mates about whether something can be done with no actual research behind it. This just looks like JetGo on steroids, bigger planes, bigger losses, some directors will make some cash, the rest will fall in a heap.

PS if people are that worried about the welfare of some pilots and other airline staff, donate the millions that will be wasted on this endeavor directly to them. Divided it will be more than any staff member will earn from this mob.

I was at Maroochy today - Bonza sign up out the front and lots of people, well 20 or so, walking around in purple, Bonza shirts and lots of beach themed props - purple blow up kids beachy toys. Mr Jordan was there. Probably not very expensive marketing, but marketing at nonetheles.

Thank god someone is finally tapping the vast potential of the Maroochydore-Albury route…..

Wiz never underestimate how many folk from Buderim, Marcoola and Australia Zoo are desperate to see the Big Rolling Pin in Albury.

With the route map i'm surprised they didn't call themselves Bogan Air. Surely topless or at least bikini-clad flight attendants are on the cards too?

But hey, as a Mildura local i'll take a sub $100 fair to Melbourne while it lasts, a great chance to fly on a brand new Max and score a full row to myself I think.

I hope they pull it off, but I do think they need to be a little smarter with their marketing. For example, every time I'm at the Coles checkin the cashier is obliged to ask the customers if they have a flybuys card which always makes me laugh inside as I recollect the numerous class upgrades I've received using alternate international carrier reward schemes, the flybuys reward scheme is totally lame by comparison.

I think the supermarket is probably an ideal place where Bonza should be advertising their cheap wares.

When was the last time somewhere like Albury saw an RPT 737? The runway can take one (limiting), but can the population fill one?

If Jetstar has ignored the Albury-Sydney route all these years, Bonza must have a side business selling Noosa Time-Share apartments to Albury residents if they think they can fill a 737 to the Sunshine Coast.

Now, if someone was trying it with a chartered Alliance E-jet, I might give them some credit. But a 737? Wow!

Admittedly, a $100 fare to SEQ direct would beat shelling out whatever Rex/Qlink would charge to travel via SYD (and presumably tapping into this market is their business plan), but to fill an aircraft week-in week-out, even if they only operate 2-3 times a week, would take some selling - especially if the majors decide to compete with the price and offer several services per day.

There is a fundamental flaw with operating 2-3 times per week - people usually want to fly when they want to fly, not wait 3 days for your jet to arrive (unless maybe you’ve sold them a packaged holiday and they’re happy with what dates they can depart/return).

I’m even fascinated by the Sunshine Coast base - surely the Gold Coast attracts more tourist traffic. It must be a concept of being pure to their business model - serving a previously un-served market. Maybe it was previously un-served for a good reason - or maybe they believe in “if you build it, they will come”.

Perhaps Bonza believe that if they can get established under this business plan, then they can expand and eventually compete on the real money-making routes - this is private equity so they don’t need to persuade anyone other than themselves - otherwise this kind of risk would be a hard sell to any investor off the street.

There are some people with large cheque-books running this - as always, with other peoples money.

Are they, in fact, just doing what private equity does best - setting up an airline, leasing them their own aircraft (which they are), maybe at inflated rates, making it look good with lots of lipstick and then floating it to the unsuspecting mum and dad shareholders - and then watching as the share price sinks below 10% of the float price (aka Richard Branson floating Virgin).

I watch with fascination.

Didn't Jetgo (Jetgone now....) try this route?