The days of buying a shit-cheap flight for holidays or last-minute weekends away are on their way back. New budget airline Bonza is taking flight this year and will be taking passengers to several spots around Australia for less than a night on the tins.
Finally that Tiger Airlines-sized hole in our hearts and holidays is being filled by another company that’ll yeet us up to the Whitsundays without it costing an arm and a leg.
Per the Sydney Morning Herald, Bonza is a fully-independent domestic airline that will be flying 25 routes and hitting 16 destinations across Australia with a big focus on regional airports. So much so that the only capital city it’ll be hitting in its initial network is Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport.
Bonza CEO Tim Jordan told the SMH that fares would be pretty similar to Jetstar’s offerings. He expected one-hour flights would average out to $50 one way. Hell, imagine going from Newcastle to Port Macquarie for the price of a good bottle of petty nat, that’s a dream.
If you’re after a longer flight — like Melbourne to the Sunny Coast — you’d be looking at something between $75 and $100. Now that’s value for cash, my jet-setting binches.
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Bonza hopes to take off in mid-2022 with flights to arrive and depart from Avalon (near Geelong), Albury, Bundaberg, Cairns, Coffs Harbour, Gladstone, Mackay, Mildura, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Rockhampton, Toowoomba Wellcamp, Townsville, Tullamarine (Melb) and the Whitsunday Coast.
Though there were no initial plans for a Sydney service, Jordan told the SMH that could change in the future.
“We believe there are opportunities in Sydney to do something different,” he said.
“We want the 20 per cent of the population who call Sydney home to benefit from Bonza fares in the future.”
Just like the cheap-as-chips airlines we’ve known and loved over the years (even when they test our patience) Bonza will be operating on a “customer choice” model. That means the starting price is for a seat with carry-on only, and you’ll be able to tack on things like checked-in baggage and seat selection as you go through the booking process.
That means it’s absolutely perfect for those cheeky overnighters when you just wanna get the fuck out of the city for a couple of days with nothing more than a change of clothes in a backpack.
Sorry to all you chronic over-packers who simply love to take 12 pairs of undies for a long weekend trip, but you might need to rein it in for the super cheap flights.
