Australia’s newest airline takes off from Townsville, offering an alternative on holiday travel. Here’s what it’s like onboard.
Bonza flights AB631 and AB634
Townsville (TSV) to Sunshine Coast (MCY) and return
Tickets purchased
The Deal: Bonza aims to serve routes that don’t have any direct services, rather than routing travellers through capital-city hubs. In my particular example, travelling to Noosa for a wedding, I could either fly to Brisbane and then backtrack about 140 kilometres north, or fly Bonza directly to Maroochydore, putting myself within a reasonable cab fare of the destination. Bonza is the only airline flying Townsville-Sunshine Coast; it also offers Townsville-Toowoomba among others.
Picking a random date in November, the base fare on this flight can be had for as little as $69 one-way, with 8kg of carry-on luggage allowance. A package including the flight, discounted seat selection and 15kg of checked luggage allowance is $93.30.
Everything is done through the Fly Bonza app on iOS or Android. The airline does have a website for announcements and promotional materials, but bookings are only available through the app or through a travel agent.
The Schedules: The catch with the cheaper fares is that Bonza doesn’t operate daily flights on these routes as yet, given the size of their fleet. In my case the Townsville-Maroochydore service operates four times per week, which worked out okay to get to the wedding, but the flight home was rescheduled, adding an extra day to the trip (and an extra night’s accommodation to the tab). In fairness, delays and cancellations can happen on any airline, and we got more than a month’s notice of the change in timetable.
On the day of travel the flights were no more than 5 minutes delayed each way, which is a good first impression for a new airline.
The Airports: Bonza operates a number of flights out of Sunshine Coast Airport (coded MCY, after the city of Maroochydore). There’s only one terminal even though MCY has international flights, with the customs and immigration facilities presumably airside at the departure gate. (Air New Zealand operates seasonal services to Auckland.)
The airport’s departures hall seems a little cramped but it does have plenty of seats and tables; a bar, coffee shop, sushi outlet and Sumo Salad all serve departing passengers. Only the coffee shop was open to serve two early Bonza flights on a Sunday morning. To be fair, it was 6am.
If you have a mobility issue, note that Bonza doesn’t use an aerobridge at MCY; you climb stairs to board the aircraft on the tarmac. Passengers needing that bit of extra time are invited to board first. Bonza did use the aerobridge when arriving at Townsvillle airport.
Sunshine Coast Airport is served by the local bus network, with Translink’s route 622 serving Maroochydore, the airport and Noosa Junction. Note that for the Sunday morning flights, though, the earliest bus service from Maroochydore would arrive at the airport at 6:30am. That would make it a bit of a sprint to make a 7am flight, even with minimal luggage and online check-in.
As a new airline and aiming squarely at the discount end of the market, Bonza doesn’t operate a lounge or frequent-flyer program.
The Aircraft: A Boeing 737 MAX 8, registered as VH-UJT and named “Shazza”. Bonza is the first airline operating the MAX 8 in Australia, with a total of 4 in the fleet. Eagle-eyed frequent flyers will notice that this was originally built for LOT Polish Airlines in 2019; the LOT insignia is still visible on the bulkhead as you board.
The front row and exit rows are designated “Stretch Plus” and can be booked for a surcharge (about $16 on the dates I picked above). Rows 2-4 are “Stretch” ($12), and the block in front of the exit rows is “Prime” for $8. If you absolutely must have a window or aisle these can be prebooked for $6. A 10% discount on these fees applies if you booked the package fare I mentioned earlier.
The Seats: Bonza offers adjustable headrests on each seat- both in terms of side support, and in terms of adjustable height. So bonus points there- that’s more than Qantas and Virgin offer on their 737 fleets.
The seat pitch is about what you’d expect flying a discount airline, and isn’t too different to the offering on Jetstar or Qantas. The cabin feels a little roomier, possibly because it’s a shiny new aircraft, and possibly because the seats Bonza have are quite thin and not at all bulky; they feel roomier, even if they’re really not.
Note that I’m 165cm (5’4″) and your mileage may vary if you’re taller- you may wish to try to book a bulkhead or exit row seat with more legroom (but with no luggage space at your feet).
A reading light and individual air vents are overhead.
The Entertainment: Basically none, but on a short flight (less than two hours) at this price point it might not worry you. The Bonza app has a handful of podcasts from the Listnr app (hope you like Hamish and Andy!), some simple games, and a video series following the Melbourne Victory soccer team, of whom Bonza are a sponsor. Some ebooks and promotional Bonza videos are also on offer, as well as a fairly basic inflight map. The selection of books is a bit strange, though; they are all in the public domain, so they don’t cost anything, but I’m not sure Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is on-brand for a light-hearted leisure airline.
Oddly, the app crashed (iOS 16) when trying to connect to inflight wi-fi on the flight to Maroochydore, although you can use your phone’s web browser as a backup plan. The app was updated while I was away and worked fine on the return trip.
Food and Drink: There’s no food or drinks included in the base fare, again in line with other low-cost carriers. Bonza promotes its food in the air as the All-Aussie Menu and sources from local suppliers, and the prices aren’t terrible. Expect to pay about $9 for a beer, $5 for a muffin, or $9 for a sandwich or wrap.
Ordering is all done through the app using your credit card. I didn’t test them out for the purposes of this review.
The Bottom Line: For my particular needs, Bonza was the best option- the right timetable, the right price, and the flight was perfectly fine. The crew were friendly (although Bonza’s more casual inflight announcements are a bit jarring if you’re used to more, er, stuffy flight crews), the seats were comfortable, and everything went smoothly. It’s a good start, and the flights seemed fairly heavily booked, so hopefully Bonza can survive and serve this niche in the Australian travel market.
All prices are in Australian dollars and were correct at the time of publication. Fares were purchased from the airline’s website; the airline was not notified that I would be writing a review and did not provide consideration.
