This week Australia’s newest airline completed the rollout of its initial route network, capped off with the inaugural flight from Melbourne to Mackay in Queensland. Bonza’s fleet of new Boeing aircraft are now in full service on 27 routes to 17 destinations in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
In a little over three months, Bonza has launched services to 17 destinations, rolling out the purple carpet at airports across the country, sometimes in airports that have never had jet services. Many of the 17 cities had no direct connections, which meant long, tiring and expensive trips via a capital city for passengers to get to where they wanted to be.
All the dots are colored purple
That’s not the case anymore and with fares as low as AU$49 ($33) the price of a ticket is no longer a barrier to a weekend away or a longer holiday or family reunion. The final dot on the map to be connected was from Melbourne International Airport (MEL) to Mackay Airport (MKY) on Queensland’s Coral Coast, some 600 miles (970 kilometers) north of Brisbane.
Bonza describes its journey, which started on January 31st with a flight from the Sunshine Coast Airport (MCY) to the Whitsunday Coast Airport (PPP), as the “largest route map rollout in Australian aviation history.” Reflecting on the rollout as well as looking ahead, chief commercial officer Carly Povey said: “This afternoon’s historic flight to Mackay from our second base in Melbourne marks the finish line for our initial rollout and the start line for Bonza earning the right to grow.”
