Budget airline Bonza has confirmed it has “temporarily suspended” services today, as customers and industry operators were left stranded and wrong-footed by sudden mass cancellations.
“Bonza has temporarily suspended services due to be operated today, as discussions are currently underway regarding the ongoing viability of the business,” Bonza CEO Tim Jordan said.
“We apologise to our customers who are impacted by this and we’re working as quickly as possible to determine a way forward that ensures there is ongoing competition in the Australian domestic aviation market.”
All flights departing from the Sunshine Coast scheduled to land in Gladstone and Rockhampton this morning have been cancelled, along with some leaving from Melbourne Airport.
It comes just days after the airline announced it would scale back flights nationally.
From next month, the airline announced it would reduce the number of flights from Melbourne to the Gold Coast to one a week, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Flights from the Gold Coast to Launceston have also been reduced, while its Gold Coast to Mount Isa service has been reporterly scrapped.
One customer, Tracy Hilbert, was left stranded at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne after she was told her flight was cancelled as she waited at the gate.
“I’ve heard that all the planes today have been cancelled,” she said.
Hilbert, who booked her flight to see her family after her father died, said she hadn’t been given any warning.
“It’s just really hard today because I should have been up there now and with my mum, my brother, and my other family,” she told Today.
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Flight Centre CEO Graham Turner said his organisation hadn’t been able to contact Bonza for any confirmation about what was happening.
“With all these cancellations, and not just this morning, but, they have been happening for the last few weeks, the news doesn’t look that good,” he told Today.
“But we haven’t heard anything official yet.
“It is one of the problems with the domestic aviation industry in Australia, where generally it’s been thought two main domestic carriers is all that the market can stand.
“But hopefully that’s not true.”
9News understands that Shadow Minister for Transport Bridget McKenzie has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to save the budget airline.
Bonza pitched itself as a “low-cost, ultra-Aussie airline” when it launched into the Australian market on January 31.
