The airline will also base two of its four Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in Melbourne and initiate recruitment for an unspecified number of roles, according to a press release issued on March 30.
Bonza celebrated the opening of its Melbourne base with a flight from its Sunshine Coast hub, a route that it will operate four times a week. Among the routes it will fly from Melbourne, Bonza states that seven of them currently lack air connectivity, including those to Mildura in Victoria state and Tamworth in neighboring New South Wales.
Airline CEO Tim Jordan says the carrier is eager to capitalize on opportunities from Melbourne, noting that the city is expected to surpass Sydney as the largest city in Australia within the next 10 years. Bonza launched operations from the Sunshine Coast on January 31, less than three weeks after obtaining its air operator's certificate.
The airline, Australia's first independent low-cost carrier in nearly a decade, is backed by Miami private equity firm 777 Partners, which also owns embattled Canadian operator Flair Airlines. Bonza, Australian slang for excellent or first-rate, promotes a different operating model from other low-cost operators: point-to-point services from secondary cities in Australia, avoiding operations within the "Golden Triangle" of Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.
