Bonza goes bust

Well, the downfall of Bonzer Airlines has once again shone a light on the turbulence of Australia’s aviation industry. So how do we get to this point? 104 years ago Australia’s aviation industry was born. Qantas or the Queensland and NT Aerial Service offered joy flights and charter work and the airfare to Brisbane is only £14.00, just about 3 weeks average wage. By the 1930s Qantas connected Australia to the world airborne with the big land planes that fly the Red ribbon route from Sydney to London halfway across the world in four days. The Flying Kangaroo became the flag carrier in the 40s and focused on international routes. Domestically, the government brought in the two airlines policy, allowing the Australian National Airways and Trans Australia Airlines to dominate the market. But it wasn’t long until Ana began to fail, and in 1957 it was acquired by Ansett Transport Industries. Seven years later, Ansett was ushering in the modern era of air travel on the wings of a Boeing 727. So it’s the best and it’s just good enough for Australia. It kicked off a golden age of aviation when flying was glamorous, smoking was allowed on board and there was no shortage of leg room. TAA and Ansett battled for supremacy for the skies for decades, but it was TAA that fell first renamed Australian Airlines that merged with Qantas in the 90s. Domestic competition was tough. Low budget airline Compass came and went, and Ansett dominated. Its name was everywhere, but after 65 years in the air, it collapsed in 2001. Ansett remains in serious trouble tonight. Its demise made way for a slew of new airlines. Virgin Australia became a competitor for Qantas, while Jetstar and Tiger Air promised cheap fares. But COVID saw Virgin placed into administration and killed Tiger Air. In its place came Bonza. More routes, more choices and a lot more low fares. After just 15 months in the air, Bonza is no more. Great package there, Carla. Yeah. It’s just a trip down memory lane. It’s not an easy history, is it? No, that’s for sure. Well, let’s bring in Peter Harbison, the chairman of Greener Airlines. Now. Peter, thanks for your time this morning. Was Bonza doomed to fail from the start? Oh, it’s a bit hard to say that now, but it was a new model in Australia. It hadn’t been tested and like a lot of airlines trying to get into this market with some very powerful, well established carriers, it’s it’s always going to be difficult and I think a couple of things really too that it probably was underfunded. It also had very large aircraft which weren’t entirely suitable for the sort of model it was operating. Yeah, I think that’s the key point that I got yesterday from from my friends in the aviation industry and that was that the planes are too big for the routes. So effectively the model wasn’t gonna work from the start. Yeah, I mean there there is, there have been a couple of similar models in the US, but obviously they’re small towns, they’re small towns. And that’s the thing, isn’t it, ’cause I mean, I guess as Australians, one who travel to Europe, for example, there are so many other little airlines, but it’s the population that sustains them, right? I mean there’s just no way that you can do, you can remodel that here. That’s right. I mean there were, there were some opportunities, but again, you know this is such a tight market with with Qantas and and to a lesser extent virgin, very, very powerful in it that you know finding a niche in there with which they can’t Burrow their way into is is extremely difficult. So what’s your outlook then crystal ball time ’cause there, there are very few people that I’ve ever met who know more about the industry than you. What’s your, what’s your outlook for prices for Australian clientele? When something like this happens, it doesn’t make it better. I mean bonds, Karl Bonds, it wasn’t sort of central to that whole pricing thing, it was, it did sit a bit on the side operating new routes, not contesting the major routes, the key routes, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as well. So it’s not going to have a major impact on that. What’s what’s having an impact on on those routes is really competition between those carriers and and the position of those carriers is important. I mean Virgin is struggling to to make a a profit at the moment. Qantas is all powerful. The other, the other influence of course is demand. That the economy has softened quite a lot and as capacity comes back into the market, there’s a lot more coming back in. Now if demand does soften then you’re you’re going to see prices stay relatively low and some good deals around, as you’ve said in the past too. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Virgin. Good on you, mate. Nice to talk to you. Good, appreciate it. Listen to him all day. No, he’s the best. He’s the best.