The launch of Bonza makes the Sunshine Coast now one of Australia’s most connected destinations, delivering 13 additional direct services from key regional and metropolitan markets. The new services will complement existing direct services from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, and seasonal direct services from Auckland with Air New Zealand.
Sunshine Coast Airport will become one of Queensland’s most-connected airports, with Bonza alone delivering an additional 772,000 seats into the region as they ramp up services across all routes and provides the Sunshine Coast with a significant competitive edge in attracting national conferences and events to the region.
Bonza is the first airline to launch in Australia in over 15 years, and the first to establish a base at Sunshine Coast Airport. This follows the construction of Sunshine Coast Airport’s new longer and wider runway which can accommodate larger aircraft, and plans are well underway to expand the existing terminal facilities to allow for growth.
Business Events Manager for Visit Sunshine Coast, Ali Thompson, said the new airline would further emphasise the Sunshine Coast’s credentials as a highly-accessible destination as we have set the stage to become a regional conferencing hub.
“The new routes will open up our destination to many markets from which we’ve never had direct access before, and local operators involved in the business events sector are very excited about the positive impacts this enhanced level of connectivity will deliver,” said Ms Thompson.
Bonza will connect 13 destinations directly into the Sunshine Coast – 10 of which* have never previously been serviced – (Cairns, Townsville*, Mackay*, Proserpine* (Whitsundays), Rockhampton*, Tamworth*, Coffs Harbour*, Port Macquarie*, Newcastle, Albury*, Melbourne (Avalon)*, Melbourne (Tullamarine) and Mildura*).
