From the time Bonza launched its first service in January, its focus has been on connections, be that connecting communities or connecting itself to its customers. As the airline deals with some growing pains, it has chosen to connect first with its customers by sending them an open letter announcing adjustments to its network today.
A step back for a leap forward
This is the first schedule change since Bonza rolled out its initial 27 routes and comes as the airline works to boost service reliability and put capacity where it is most needed. Bonza is removing services on five routes where demand is not where it needs to be to sustain service, these being from the Sunshine Coast Airport (MCY) to Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, and Tamworth, and from Cairns to Mackay and Toowoomba Wellcamp to Whitsunday Coast.
While some routes will have their frequency reduced, three of the most popular routes will have theirs increased. Services from the Sunshine Coast to Albury and Melbourne Avalon will get an extra weekly flight, as will the Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL) route to Port Macquarie. The net effect is that five routes will not operate, but services on three others will see flights increase due to their popularity.
Simple Flying spoke with Bonza's Chief Commercial Officer Carly Povey today, and she said that the airline has been experiencing some reliability issues, such as delays and cancelations, and it wants to address those and shift aircraft capacity. Australians will recall the recent issues Jetstar faced from bird and lightning strikes, and it seems that Bonza has its own bad luck in that regard.
Povey explained in an interview with Simple Flying that Bonza has had ten bird (including some bat) strikes in nine weeks and said that while that happens to all airlines, Bonza has been statistically very unlucky.
"Some of those have caused aircraft to be grounded for up to four days, and when you only have four aircraft it hits you twofold. Firstly it hits you in the most obvious way but secondly, as we have pilots going through the training program if we are not in the air we can't finish that training.
"It's the compounding impacts of those things and the impacts on the pilot pipeline that have been the largest driver of delays and cancellations. Maintenance issues have driven some of the cancellations but downstream there are the domino effects of all of those things."
While these issues are largely out of Bonza's control, the airline has decided to adjust the network now and boost reliability back to where the customers expect it to be. Bonza also wants to right size its network for where demand is strongest, and right now that means putting some routes on hold and adding flights on others, taking into account its fleet of just four Boeing 737 MAX 8s.
Creating spare 737 MAX 8 capacity
When Bonza launched, both Povey and CEO Tim Jordan said there would be routes that may take more time to mature and that the network will need to be reset to reflect that, which is what has been announced today. The airline also had planned on an initial fleet of five 737s with one aircraft held as a spare for when unexpected surprises, like bat strikes, disrupted the operation.
Povey said that Bonza will be operating with four aircraft until later this year, although the changes being made will produce the spare capacity originally planned for. She added,
"These changes will liberate a full spare aircraft which gives us confidence that we have that spare capacity to provide support for when those things you can't predict go wrong. They also give us the stability to go on sale for Christmas and Easter 2024 from early August, and they also give us a chance to stop and take a breath and then focus on launching base number three."
Most Bonza customers will be unaware of the reliability issues, but the airline has got on the front foot to let the world know why the network is changing. It is similar to what Qantas went through last year when it adjusted flights to hold capacity in reserve until its performance met customer expectations.
Any customers booked on routes impacted (from August 1st to October 28th) will be contacted by Bonza via SMS and offered a full refund or alternate Bonza flights, depending on what they want to do. Since launch, more than 330,000 people have booked with Bonza and its app has been downloaded more than 1.25 million times, with the airline voted in the Top 25 low-cost airlines globally by Airline Ratings.
What do you think about Bonza's recent route changes? Let us know in the comments!