After all the drama in recent years, we all know that the state of affairs in Australia's air travel industry are pretty grim, to say the least. But things seem to be going from bad to worse, as a promising new budget airline that only launched in Melbourne last year seems to be plummeting to a crash landing.
Bonza is a low-cost Aussie airline that began flying out of Melbourne in early 2023, after starting out on the Sunshine Coast. Up until today, it was offering flights to domestic destinations in Victoria and Queensland from a variety of cities across the country, as well as smaller towns that larger airlines don't typically service. But in a sudden turn of events, the airline abruptly cancelled all of its flights from the morning of Tuesday, April 30, without warning.
If that's not bad enough, news reports have claimed that several of the airline's planes have allegedly been repossessed by creditors. It doesn't get much worse than that.
"Bonza has temporarily suspended services due to be operated today (Tuesday 30th April)," a statement on the airline's website says. "Discussions are currently underway regarding the ongoing viability of the business. We apologise to our customers who are impacted by this and we’re working as quickly as possible to determine a way forward that ensures there is ongoing competition in the Australian domestic aviation market."
Between this news and Jetstar being ranked as the third-worst airline in the world, we're not feeling hopeful about the prospects of Aussie aviation improving anytime soon. But in good news, apparently international flight prices are finally starting to drop, so there's something to smile about.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.