Bonza delayed

[kgwilson]

It has been announced that Bonza has entered Voluntary Administration which is what I expected would happen. It is possible that they will be able to restart but this will depend on the extent of the debt. The process is pretty much the same as Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the USA that VANS Aircraft is currently going through as discussed in another thread.

[spenaroo]

interesting reading the history of budget airlines in Australia,

I remember in Bransons biography him saying Virgin originally started with an operating budget of 1 million,

but looking at wiki they had two jets (one leased from another virgin airline). and only operated 1 route initially

it got lucky with the collapse of Ansett (also talked about in his biography - overnight the business completely changed)

giving them the gates etc.. to expand rapidly

 

Tiger had 5 aircraft transferred from a sister airline, and 10 million dollars.

started in 2007 - first year of profit was 2010

it also avoided using expensive airports (remember when you had to go to Avalon instead of Melbourne)

 

we all know Jet-star uses the older Qantas fleet and gates.

 

seems like Bonza had the right idea with only operating one type of airline to reduce costs.

but implemented it incorrectly - with the leases negating this advantage.

be interesting to see if its a case of trying to start too ambitiously, lack of capital or failure to gain the needed infrastructure (timing with the lease agreements not being possible as airlines scramble for more capacity post COVID)

 

 

 

[facthunter]

Jetstar doesn't use the older "Q" fleet. It had the Dreamliner in greater numbers than Quaintarse. Nev

[spenaroo]

12 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Jetstar doesn't use the older "Q" fleet. It had the Dreamliner in greater numbers than Quaintarse. Nev

Okay gets a bit muddier.

Qantas aquired impulse, which became part of Qantaslink.

but the 717's of Impulse became the starter aircraft for Jetstar.

which then became the aircraft for National Jet Systems... another Qantas subsidary.

that operates aircraft for Qantaslink (yeah I'm confused too as to why its a new separate entity)

either way the original aircraft were older "Q "fleet

Edited April 30 by spenaroo

[facthunter]

WIKI is a good source but often requires verification and is so  captioned  717s are a Douglas derived Boeing takeover model and  were not outdated..  Nev

[spenaroo]

never said they were outdated, but they weren't new aircraft.

and were transferred from a sister airline.

 

they were an existing asset.
 

which Bonza Lacked.

which I think will make it difficult for a bail-out.

as essentially any existing player who wants to take-over. has to also supply there own aircraft.

 

at this point what actual assets does Bonza have?

 

Edited April 30 by spenaroo

[facthunter]

Plenty of Airlines use leased planes .   Nev

[Flightrite]

Tigers would have survived longer if it were not for grubby Virgin getting hold of them and wanting to change the fleet to Boeing, which was gunna cost a bomb! Once the BS Covid hit the last nail in the coffin was driven home!

Bonza really didn't stand a chance long term despite crossed fingers, the big players have hands in many pockets to protect their turf!🤮

 

Edited April 30 by Flightrite

[pmccarthy]

I still have my Compass return tickets to Sydney.

[440032]

My compass broke when hiking. The whole trip went south real quick.

[red750]

You can't run a business on leased equipment if you don't pay your lease.

[spenaroo]

you would expect a major company to lease a vehicle,

but you would question the viability of an Uber driver leasing the same one.

 

nothing wrong with leasing - but like all liability has to be appropriate and manageable

 

not the first time the owner company has had this occur...

 

from Wikipedia:

On March 11, 2023, Airborne Capital Ltd. seized four of its planes operated by Flair over alleged non-payment. In a press conference, Flair CEO Stephen Jones suggested the seizures were motivated by competitors, and that the airline owed around US$1 million on the leases, and was in the process of making payment when the seizures occurred.^[24][25] The lessor, Airborne alleged that Flair had repeatedly missed payments amounting to several millions of dollars over a period of five months. Flair used other aircraft to continue to operate its schedule.^[26] In January 2024, it was reported that the lessors had filed claims at the UK High Court for costs and that there had been outstanding payments of $1.8 million on the four aircraft when notice of default was served.^[27]

Edited April 30 by spenaroo

[spenaroo]

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/bonza-update-qantas-offer-to-aussies-fearing-for-jobs-as-ceos-late-night-memo-leaked-222238153.html

 - staff were sent a message from CEO Tim Jordan much earlier on social media at 3am that revealed the dire state of the airline.

"We have been informed this morning that effective 0300 today that all our aircraft have had repossession proceedings commenced by AlP the aircraft lessor," Jordan explained.

"This was a surprise to both ourselves and [Bonza's financial backers] 777 Partners.

"We are currently assessing all options and will provide an update here just as soon as we have more information available to share. As a consequence of this all first wave flights from all bases have been cancelled."

 

 

[kgwilson]

It seems Bonzas problems stem from being financed by 777partners a US based private equity company that has been also investing in loss making football teams including Melbourne United with their latest efforts to buy in to the English premier League team Everton with investigative journalists exposing the business failures of 777 partners when they unearthed a swag of court cases, mostly for default on loans. Sounds like it is straight out of the Trump song book.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-04/777-partners-the-private-equity-firm-behind-bonza/103802624

[Jerry_Atrick]

On 01/05/2024 at 5:24 AM, spenaroo said:

"This was a surprise to both ourselves and [Bonza's financial backers] 777 Partners.

One hopes this is inaccurate... Otherwise it is an admission that the company hd no idea, and no control over its finances. After all, the lease contract will not normally allow a reposession unless a) the company is in default, or sometimes, it it is deemed a risky lease, the lessor has a rasonable belief that the lessee will default imminently, or c) not maintaining covenants such as a minimum share price, or maintenance or something similar. It would be alarming if the directors of the company were not expecting reposession proceedings were being initiated, as the directors would normally be informed of such proceedigs. and the reason why.

[facthunter]

Those planes would have a good chance of fetching a good price in todays circumstances. Some "Equity " people are the most ruthless. Nev

[BrendAn]

On 30/04/2024 at 4:07 PM, spenaroo said:

interesting reading the history of budget airlines in Australia,

I remember in Bransons biography him saying Virgin originally started with an operating budget of 1 million,

but looking at wiki they had two jets (one leased from another virgin airline). and only operated 1 route initially

it got lucky with the collapse of Ansett (also talked about in his biography - overnight the business completely changed)

giving them the gates etc.. to expand rapidly

 

Tiger had 5 aircraft transferred from a sister airline, and 10 million dollars.

started in 2007 - first year of profit was 2010

it also avoided using expensive airports (remember when you had to go to Avalon instead of Melbourne)

 

we all know Jet-star uses the older Qantas fleet and gates.

 

seems like Bonza had the right idea with only operating one type of airline to reduce costs.

but implemented it incorrectly - with the leases negating this advantage.

be interesting to see if its a case of trying to start too ambitiously, lack of capital or failure to gain the needed infrastructure (timing with the lease agreements not being possible as airlines scramble for more capacity post COVID)

 

 

 

i flew tiger to perth once and i boarded at tullamarine. lucky i barrack for collingwood because all the passengers looked like they did.😁

[BrendAn]

we also did perth mel return with compass and it was a great trip both ways except we had to board on the tarmac in a tent from memory.

 

[BrendAn]

On 30/04/2024 at 4:26 PM, spenaroo said:

Okay gets a bit muddier.

Qantas aquired impulse, which became part of Qantaslink.

but the 717's of Impulse became the starter aircraft for Jetstar.

which then became the aircraft for National Jet Systems... another Qantas subsidary.

that operates aircraft for Qantaslink (yeah I'm confused too as to why its a new separate entity)

either way the original aircraft were older "Q "fleet

used to fly to work on quantas link. they served mines and towns in the goldfields and pilbara.

[spenaroo]

On 05/05/2024 at 5:22 AM, Jerry_Atrick said:

One hopes this is inaccurate... Otherwise it is an admission that the company hd no idea, and no control over its finances. After all, the lease contract will not normally allow a reposession unless a) the company is in default, or sometimes, it it is deemed a risky lease, the lessor has a rasonable belief that the lessee will default imminently, or c) not maintaining covenants such as a minimum share price, or maintenance or something similar. It would be alarming if the directors of the company were not expecting reposession proceedings were being initiated, as the directors would normally be informed of such proceedigs. and the reason why.

have a read...

https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/bonza-s-backers-plotted-to-get-the-planes-out-and-wind-this-up-20240506-p5fp87

sounds like the plans with the parent company were different to what was being told to Bonza.
bit like GM shutting down Holden having been planned for months - but management being told the week before that all was well.

[Garfly]

 

The mysterious man behind 777 Partners, the strange private equity firm that owns Bonza - ABC News

WWW.ABC.NET.AU

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Bonza's US private equity backers, 777 Partners, is fighting financial and legal fires around the world with its portfolio of budget airlines and financially struggling football clubs.