From vision to reality: how low-cost airline Bonza got its start

Tim Jordan, with his wife Simone, had returned to Australia after working for a low-cost carrier in the Philippines.

They stood on the verandah of their Urunga home on the Mid North Coast, looked skyward, saw a plane and realised many people in their community couldn't afford to fly.

So began a quest to make domestic air travel, especially in regional centres, available to the many and not the few.

The Jordans were later invited to go to the central Asian country of Kazakhstan to start the low-cost carrier, FlyArystan.

FlyArystan, which launched in May 2019, carried one million passengers in its first year.

The Jordans were living in Kazakhstan when the global aviation industry faced turmoil after the COVID pandemic hit.

"Simone and I looked at each other across the kitchen table in lockdown [in Kazakhstan] and said 'it is now or never for Bonza'," Mr Jordan said.

Miami-based private investment firm 777 Partners came on board as financial investors in a major step forward for Bonza.

Bonza secured regulatory approval to take to the skies and became the first new high-capacity airline in Australia for 15 years.

Mr Jordan, with more than 30 years' experience in the aviation industry, is the airline's CEO.

Mrs Jordan was a cabin crew member for the then Virgin Blue before moving into cabin crew recruitment. She is part of the Bonza crew recruitment team.

Bonza has a team of about 220 people.

The low-cost airline marked its first flight between the Sunshine Coast and the Whitsundays on January 31.

The airline continues to roll out its destinations with a focus on regional locations.

"There is a degree of mismatch between demographics, whereby people in regional centres generally earn less than the capital cities, but airfares unfortunately are higher than the capital cities," Mr Jordan said.

"We are here to try to right that as much as we possibly can."

Port Macquarie is among Bonza's destinations. The airline kicked off direct flights between the Sunshine Coast and Port Macquarie on April 12.

The next step for the region comes on May 4 when Bonza launches twice weekly direct flights to Port Macquarie from its second base at Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine).

The Jordans still call Urunga home.

IN OTHER NEWS: