Bonza plans to 'keep momentum going' with Albury its 'shining star'

The budget carrier, which will put on extra flights between Albury and the Sunshine Coast in September, and will launch an Albury-Gold Coast service in November, said it has no concerns about Qantas standing in the way of its flight paths.

Bonza's chief commercial officer Carly Povey, in Albury on Wednesday, August 16, to discuss airport logistics ahead of the Gold Coast route launch, told The Border Mail the success of its Albury-Maroochydore leg "had been a phenomenon" and provided huge incentive to "keep the momentum going".

"We're running our own race," she said. "Eighty-five per cent of our entire network is not served by any other airline.

"Let's just say it would be incredibly surprising if after many years in this market, another airline suddenly changed their entire strategy and decided to fly to the places that they'd never flown before that Bonza are now flying.

"We think we've been very clear that we're here to do something differently. And we've not just said we're here to do it, we've actually shown that we need to do something differently.

"I think Alan Joyce (Qantas chief executive officer) has publicly talked about Bonza being a case in point that there is now more choice in the market, customers having more choice than they ever had before."

In May last year, the other airline servicing Albury, Regional Express, withdrew its Melbourne-Albury service citing "predatory behaviour by Qantas flooding the market" to drive out competition, an accusation Qantas denied, saying its services had been welcomed by regional communities as "providing competition and flexibility".

Ms Povey said she had no concerns Qantas would move in on its Sunshine Coast or Gold Coast routes.

After the airline cut services from the Sunshine Coast to Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and Tamworth, from Cairns to Mackay, and from Toowoomba to the Whitsunday Coast, Ms Povey said Bonza was "finetuning" the routes that work for it.

"Our position has always been it doesn't have to be about competing and if somebody tomorrow decided to change their trade strategy, let's just say it would be interesting to observe," Ms Povey said.

"We're in the process of finetuning and this has been the case from the start, carefully looking at all routes.

"Albury has been phenomenal, it's been a really good example of there being an opportunity for choice in the market and being in places that still aren't well connected.

"And one of the things I love the most is we're not just seeing people flying out of Albury we're seeing people from the Sunshine Coast flying in.

"This is our only ski destination on our entire network, but there are plenty of other attractions near Albury such as the wineries."

With only four Boeing 737 Max-8s flying until a fifth jet will come in at the end of the year, Ms Povey said scheduling "was a challenge".

"It's like a Rubik's Cube," she said. "When you're not yet at full scale there are a few things you just have to be really mindful of because if one aircraft's running late somewhere, when you've got unexpected things like bird strikes - and bat strikes - it's challenging.

"If you've got a fleet of 20 30, 40 aircraft, then it becomes less pronounced in terms of impact.

"But when you've got four, clearly that has knock-on impact."

Aus Flight Handling Albury manager Shaun Parker said the extra Bonza flights had resulted in several job openings at the airport in terms of cargo handling and cafe staff.

Bonza announced after the Matildas' World Cup semi-final on Wednesday, August 16, its next aircraft would be named Matilda.

The airline so far has four aircraft named Shazza, Bazza, Sheila and Malc.

The fifth plane, due to arrive next year after the Gold Coast base launch (subject to regulatory approval), will have Matilda painted on its side.

"Like the rest of the nation, our team of legends have been gripped by Matilda mania thanks to their sportsmanship, mateship with one another and their pride in wearing the green and gold," Ms Povey said.

"As an airline that is solely focused on Australia, it seemed fitting to name our next aircraft Matilda."

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