Bonza enters voluntary administration after cancelling all flights — as it happened (2024)

The Transport Department has established a hotline for stranded passengers.

That number is1800 069 244and the line will be operating until 10pm tonight, the department says.

Customers can also call Qantas, Jetstar or Virgin's customer service lines for assistance.

Transport Minister Catherine King says she expects Bonza to keep customers informed of what to do and that Bonza's board is currently meeting at the moment.

We will be ending our live coverage here, but this is what you need to know.

The administrators, Hall Chadwick, have told customers not to go to the airport as the fleet will be grounded up to and including Thursday May 2.

If you are affected by the flight cancellations you can call the hotline set up by the Transport Departement on 1800 069 244 which will stay open until 10pm tonight.

You can also call the hotline established by the administrators on 03 8678 1600for any queries about the administration process and continued operations.

Customers can also call Qantas, Jetstar or Virgin's customer service lines for assistance.

The administrator will continue investigate the company's future over the next few days and will provide regular updates. It said it is conscious of the impact this has on airport and airline staff.

You can catch up on today's events by reading the live updates below or by reading these articles.

• Who owns Bonza airlines? And why is the company in trouble?
• Analysis: Bonza doomed to failure from the start, just like so many Australian airlines before it
• Passengers stranded, Bonza in administration in 'shattering news' for sector

Thank you for joining us.

Federal Transport Catherine King told ABC radio Melbourne Drive it is entirely up to the administrators whether Bonza's four planes were to continue to operate, but she speculates it will be unlikely.

She said the role for government is "to ensure that we have a strong aviation sector within Australia ... [but] can we bail out Bonza right at this minute? That is not something that the government has before us."

"We'll talk to the administrators, but I would say that, you know, it is from time to time these smaller players do come into the market, and it is a challenging market. Aviation's hard, and aviation in a small market, Australia is certainly very difficult."

Travel writer Geoffrey Thomas told ABC News Channel while it is not clear why this is happening the problem appears to be with Bonza's US-based backers 777 Partners.

"We know that the ownership of the four aircraft that Bonza has in Australia was changed and the new owner of those leases took possession of the aircraft this morning," Mr Thomas said.

He said once the administrators conduct their investigation it will become clear what had gone wrong, but the "finances seem to be awry."

He said Bonza's business model has worked elsewhere in the world and seemed to be going fine in Australia with the service being a favourite for regional travel with, but the 777 appear to not have been happy with the company's model or finances.

While other airlines have manged to survive administration, he said, Bonza is a bit different as it has had several issues in recent times and now faces the catalyst of losing public confidence making it harder to continue under the same branding.

You can listen to the full interview with Mr Thomas here.

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The Federal Minister for Transport, Catherine King, says despite knowing since last week of issues with Bonza's finances and communicating with them since, the government only became aware of the situation at hand this morning when flights were cancelled.

Ms King said Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin immediately stepped forward to say they will bring stranded passengers home after speaking to them this morning.

She said the focus is on the passengers, of which there are many due to being at the tail-end of school holidays, but has not commented on whether the government will bail the company out.

She said the matter is now with the administrators which will decide whether the company can continue or if it will have to shutdown with the passengers with cancelled tickets joining a line of creditors.

Listen to the full interview with Ms King on RN Drive.

Accounting firm Hall Chadwick, which has taken administration of Bonza, has detailed the next steps for the company.

It says "the grounding of the fleet is currently up to and including Thursday 2 May 2024".

It advises customers not to travel to airports even if they have bookings.

The ABC is still waiting on an exact breakdown of staff numbers who will be affected, but it understands there are roughly 150 Bonza workers between the Sunshine Coast and Melbourne.

There will now also be uncertainty for other workers at the Sunshine Coast airport, including for ground crew with Oceania or security with Trident Security or Certis Security, given there will be a smaller number of flights going through the Sunshine Coast.

Passengers react this morning to news of Bonza flight cancellations at Sunshine Coast, headquarters of Bonza Aviation, which has since gone into administration.

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Avalon Airport in Melbourne has advised passengers to head to the Bonza check-in area in the Domestic Terminal and look for team members in purple and to keep an eye on the Bonza website.

About a week ago Bonza confirmed flights on some routes would decrease, but denied reports suggesting it might have been in financial trouble.

The airline was in international headlines after reports in the Australian Financial Review suggested KordaMentha was being brought in by one of Bonza's financiers to provide advice.

KordaMentha declined to comment, saying they were under a strict non-disclosure agreement as with all their clients.

A spokeswoman for Bonza then said the reporting was "incorrect".

"KordaMentha has not been engaged by Bonza," she said.

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"They haven't visited Bonza and don't have access to Bonza in any way."

Read the full story here:

ABC reporter Greg Ryan captured this sunset picture from the last Bonza flight from Maroochydore to Albury late yesterday.

Bonza was doomed to failure from the start, just like so many Australian airlines before it, writes Ian Verrender.

A quick look through Wikipedia reveals almost 300 defunct Australian airlines since we took to the skies last century.

Many were tiny regional operators, a few were amalgamated into bigger regional operators such as Rex — which has hung in there with thrifty management from its Singaporean owners — and a handful had grander ambitions that blew up in spectacular style.

Bonza, the latest upstart to come a cropper in one of the world's most cutthroat aviation markets, never really stood a chance.

It hit turbulence early on, even in the ideas stage as the pandemic wreaked havoc with airlines globally and international travel ground to a halt.

Read the full analysis by Ian Verrender here:

Documentation filed to ASIC shows that Bonza has entered voluntary administration.

If you're wondering what voluntary administration means precisely, my colleague Dannielle Maguire wrote an article when dessert maker Sara Lee went through the same process. Here's how she explains it:

Voluntary administration is an option for a company that's in financial trouble and can't repay its debts, the Fair Work Ombudsman explains.

It basically means a qualified manager from outside the business — usually involving a few experts from a consulting firm — is brought in to sort things out.

They look into the company's affairs and recommend whether it should:

• enter into a deed of company arrangement, which either aims to continue operations or provide a better return for creditors than an immediate winding up of the company
• go into liquidation, which is when the business is closed and assets sold off to pay its debts, or
• be returned to the directors

The notice was filed toAustralian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) earlier today.

It states that Richard Albarran, Kathleen Vouris, Brent Kijurina and Cameron Shaw from accounting firm Hall Chadwick have been appointed as external administrators.

This means there is an opportunity for the director or a third party to rescue Bonza, or for the company to be restructured.

The airline is yet to provide an update beyond a statement this morning apologising to customers.

It said " we're working as quickly as possible to determine a way forward that ensures there is ongoing competition in the Australian domestic aviation market."

Queensland's Tourism Minister Michael Healy says the reports about the airline's commercial viability are a concern.

"Our immediate concerns are with stranded passengers and ticket holders who are impacted by the current situation with Bonza," he says.

"We recognise how important healthy competition in the aviation sector is to not just tourism, but the broader economy.

"We await further details from the business."

Reporting by Kirra Grimes

Sunshine Coast airport has 33 Bonza departing flights and 33 incoming flights scheduled for the next seven days.

Flights scheduled for tomorrow include departures to Townsville, Cairns, Albury, Melbourne, and Darwin; and arrivals from Cairns, Townsville, Albury, and Melbourne.

Some customers are reporting that they were still able to check in for tomorrow's Sunshine Coast to Townsville flight.

The airport's website lists these flights as 'on time' or 'scheduled'.

But a spokesperson said they were yet to hear from Bonza as to whether those flights were going ahead.

"We haven't received any advice from Bonza," Ethan Clissold said.

"Normally, we'd have a bit of back and forth about those sorts of things (flight cancellations), but we don't have an update at this stage."

Gold Coast airport's website advises people to contact Bonza directly for information on upcoming flights.

David has had very positive experiences flying more than 26 times with Bonza.

He says inflexibility is something to be expected on budget airlines: "It's the price you pay for the price you pay."

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Some aviation experts believe the budget airline Bonza will struggle to remain in service.

Impacted travellers have been told they'll get a full refund, while Qantas and Virgin have stepped in to help stranded passengers.

International aviation consultant Neil Hansford says Bonza's American owner can't keep bank-rolling the airline.

"I didn't see them lasting until Christmas and I think they have gone on past Christmas but the situation they have got is that their owners, their financiers, 777 Partners have got their own problems in the United States," he says.