The title of Donald Horne's 1964 pop-sociology book The Lucky Country became a synonym for Australia, as well as airlines and the passenger experience. With a strong incumbent in Qantas and a series of challengers in the form of Ansett, Virgin Australia and others, as well as a series of low-cost airlines, Australia has always been fortunate in the airline service.
In many of Australia's smaller, rural and remote towns and cities, it's expensive and uncomfortable to have a connection. Smaller operators, such as Regional Express and QantasLink, have been known to offer cramped turboprops with limited cabin space, often requiring connecting flights in Australia.
Bonza is a new low-cost airline that is focused on connecting sixteen of these lucky smaller locations with the only state or territory capital city on the network.
Bonza's network is aimed at Allstralia. The image is of Bonza.
Bonza tells the Runway Girl Network that of the 25 routes within its network, almost all of them are new to low-cost carriers. Bonza's announcement increases the number of low-cost-carrier routes in Australia by 40%.
Bonza is an Australian word for great food. It will be able to serve most routes between two and five times a week.
There will be a minimum of 186 seats on the new plane with a seat pitch of 29 to 30 degrees.
It is interesting that, even as a low-cost carrier, its seat announcement and two-overwing-exit PR rendering show that Bonza isn't initially plumping for the MAX 8-200.
It's a strong place when it comes to the passenger experience hard product proposition.
Even if the competing aircraft have the same or better #PaxEx, direct nonstop service is a better experience than having to connect. That is a long-established success story for low-cost carriers.
For many of the smaller towns and cities, the passenger experience will be upgraded with anLCC-style737 MAX 8.
Many are served with Rex's Saab 340s and QantasLink's De Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprops, which have seats roughly as narrow as those found on a plane, but with less overhead bin space.
Qantas, Virgin Australia and Rex all use the same type of plane, the Boeing 737, as their domestic mainline jet.
If it can translate its cheerful, bright purple brand into a cheerful, bright passenger experience with cheap and cheerful service, that is a potential winner.
Bonza's app, currently in a bare-bones pre-launch mode, is already talking about its team of legends, suggesting that cheerfulness is on the cards. The basic fare includes 8 kilogram of cabin baggage, which is enough for everything from flipflops to cozzies, according to the app.
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The image was credited to Bonza.
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