Bonza has farewelled the first of its five seized aircraft as it sets off for less financially stricken pastures. Now, the company’s administrators turn to facing its 60,000 creditors and $100 million in unpaid debts.
It was shaping up to be a relatively normal Tuesday morning for the staff of Sunshine Coast Airport on April 30 when engineering administrators suddenly stormed its Queensland terminal and seized two purple planes – known as Shazza and Malc – moving them as far away as possible from their respective gates.
With 60,000 creditors, more than $100 million in unpaid debts and 300 sacked staff, its wind-down looks as messy as its initial business case, despite an outside chance it may be saved following urgent talks by administrators Hall Chadwick.Many have been quick to point to the airline duopoly of Qantas and Virgin and the slot-constrained nature of Sydney Airport as to why Bonza was forced into administration so soon after launching.
Despite, at times, patchy reliability, routes such as the Sunshine Coast to Newcastle were regularly packed full of eager tourists ready to boost local tourism revenue.But below the jocular press releases and grateful regional communities were signs the airline was beginning to come unstuck. Jordan initially said Bonza would need at least 10 aircraft to break even, but battled fleet issues from the beginning as 777 Partners redirected one of its Max-8s to Flair soon after launching.
Within a fortnight, Bonza received four notices of default for its leases. Two of them were signed by 777 cofounder Joshua Wander, and the two remaining were signed by AIP Capital general counsel Greg Kahn. Bonza’s lenders then engaged restructuring firm KordaMentha for advice on what to do, but the airline has always denied any role in this engagement.
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