Alert The Group Chat: Australia Is Getting A New Low-Cost Airline Next Year
BRB flying literally anywhere they'll let me.
There’s a new budget airline coming to Australia next year, which means your first post-lockdown holiday probably just got a lot cheaper.
The new, independent airline, Bonza, will land in Australia in early 2022, and will offer low-cost flights on some of Australia’s most popular domestic routes. “Bonza will deliver enormous benefits to all Australians, but particularly to regional communities by providing new routes and greater travel opportunities,” Bonza founder and CEO Tim Jordan said in a statement.
The startup will be Australia’s “only independent low-cost airline” at launch, but will still have to compete with the likes of Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia.
“Bonza was chosen for its Aussie resonance in signifying something which is simply yet unquestionably great. The Urban Dictionary goes as far as to assign it a meaning of “good and well executed”, a definition which Jordan fully embraces,” Jordan told Executive Traveller of the airline’s Australian name.
“That for me is exactly what we want to be. We want to be good, in fact we want to be great, and well-executed. I’m a firm believer that whether you pay $10 or $1,000 (for an airfare) you deserve a great product.”
In addition to capital cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, Bonza will also fly to a number of regional destinations. This is a huge win for families that have been separated by lockdowns and border closures, who would otherwise be looking at super expensive flights to Australia’s regional cities. Additionally, the airline will focus on leisure destinations, which means you should be able to cop a cheap flight to a fun holiday destination, if you’re happy to be flexible with dates and times.
“We will be about offering a generally low-frequency service — maybe two or three times a week — at a very low price. That’s our mode of operation,” Jordan told Executive Traveller.
At launch, Bonza will only offer domestic flights, but the airline is already in talks with more than 40 airports around the country.