Bonza Bazza’s First Gold Coast Melbourne Flight

Today, Australia’s low-cost carrier Bonza really earned its Allstraylia moniker when it launched flights from Queensland’s Gold Coast to Melbourne, a trip that for decades has carried millions of Aussies home from family holidays. In both winter and summer Melburnians flock to the Gold Coast, and Bonza is now opening that up to millions more with its nonstop low-fare flights.

This is a major holiday route

Yesterday Bonza launched operations from its new Gold Coast Airport (OOL) base with a return service to Townsville and today has added the Melbourne route to its roster. In all, Bonza will operate 14 routes from the Gold Coast and eleven of those currently have no nonstop flights. The Gold Coast is Australia’s premier holiday and tourism playground, attracting visitors with its golden beaches, theme parks like Sea World and Movie World, quality restaurants and nearby islands.

Photo: Michael Doran | Simple Flying

Today’s inaugural service was operated by Bonza’s Bazza, a 737 MAX 8, registration VH-UIK and MSN 43975, but in a few days passengers will find themselves absorbing some Canadian culture aboard a wet-leased Flair Airlines aircraft. To get the Gold Coast base up and running before the Christmas and holiday peak, Bonza has wet-leased two 737 MAX 8s from associated airline Flair Airlines (Flair), meaning that the aircraft and crew are operating on behalf of Bonza.

Photo: Michael Doran I Simple Flying

Checking in for Bonza flight AB1637 was online and the bag drop was quickly completed via common-user kiosks at Gold Coast Airport, and with multiple Bonza people on hand to help, the process took just a few minutes. The flight departed on time and was soon in the air climbing out over the sea and heading southwards for the 2:20-hour flight to Melbourne.

Bonza has made its mark in Australia

I have traveled on numerous Bonza flights, but this one had a very different feel, with no senior management, photographers or media onboard and an almost full cabin of people who didn’t clap and cheer when the 737 took off. It felt like a normal Australian domestic flight, apart from the space and quietness of the MAX and the a la carte service of the Bonza crew.

Photo: Michael Doran I Simple Flying

Perhaps for a journalist, a major benefit is that each seat has both a USB-A and a laptop charging point, so at no cost the two devices were easily powered up, used throughout the flight and taken off with full batteries. There is no IFE on Bonza flights, although rumor has it that it might not be far away, so using and charging personal devices is a key part of flying, particularly on longer routes like Gold Coast-Melbourne.

The a la carte service was widely used by myself and those around me, and with just a few clicks, passengers can place orders that are then delivered to the seat by the enthusiastic Bonza legends. For someone who has traveled domestically in Australia for many decades, it is impossible to envision the mainline carriers, such as Qantas and Virgin Australia, ever adopting the no-cart system.

Photo: Michael Doran I Simple Flying

The crew are on their feet throughout the flight with orders coordinated between the front and rear galleys, and there is no disappearing behind the curtain once the cart run is done, as happens on Bonza’s mainline competitors. It is passenger experience innovation at its best and a testament to the vision of the airline’s inflight and commercial management teams and the cabin crews who implement the process so successfully every day.

A Canadian experience awaits

Bonza pioneered the Boeing 737 MAX 8 in Australia and has a fleet of four, now supplemented by the two from Flair that will be here for the next 90 days. Those aircraft became available as demand lessens in the northern winter and when they return to Canada, Bonza will add two more MAX 8s to its fleet. The fleet is expected to grow to more than ten aircraft during 2024, which will see Bonza connecting more new destinations, as well as adding more frequencies on popular existing routes.

Photo: Michael Doran I Simple Flying

Approaching Melbourne the captain announced that air traffic control had given preference to a flight with a medical emergency and a number of flights, including ours, would be slowed down and arrival delayed. The flight landed at Melbourne Tullamarine at 19:25 and departed at 20:37 for the return to the Gold Coast.

There were no ceremonial cakes at either end of the route, which was somewhat comforting as it shows how far Bonza has evolved in 2023 to become an established part of Australia’s domestic airline scene and completely silenced those who said it would never get off the ground.

If you fly on the Bonza Flair Airlines 737 MAX, let us know about it in the comments.