Storms brewing behind scenes
Troubled budget airline Bonza may speak 100 per cent Ocker but its roots are in faraway Miami.
Bonza’s money came from Miami-based financiers 777 Partners, which claims assets of $US10bn ($15bn).
Administrators from Hall Chadwick were appointed to take control of the two Australian Bonza companies, Bonza Aviation and 777 Oz Holdco, on Tuesday afternoon.
The fate of its planes isn’t clear, with talk swirling among pilots and the finance industry that at least one has been repossessed by the company that leased it to Bonza, New Yorkbased AIP Capital.
Bonza and AIP have been contacted for comment.
A failure to rescue the airline from administration would not just end the cheap fares offered by Bonza – the lessening of competition would also allow Australia’s other airlines to jack up their prices.
Financiers 777 have plenty problems of their own.
US regulators have put the squeeze on 777, demanding one of its key funders slash its investment in the fund by $US1.8bn.
Another of 777’s airline investments, Canadian budget carrier Flair, has already had four of its planes repossessed by creditors owed $US30m.
777 is a lawsuit magnet, with at least 27 cases involving it filed in US state and federal courts over the past five years.
At least 13 of the 29 cases are ongoing.
777 is also under investigation by US authorities over potential breaches of anti money laundering laws, website Semafor reported in November.
Here in Australia, Bonza has a fleet of four planes, named Bazza, Sheila, Shazza and Malc.
Sources say concerns over Bonza’s financial viability were one of the reasons the Civil Aviation Safety Authority was slow to grant the airline permission to fly.
Its entry into the market last year slashed fares offered by rival Virgin on the MelbourneGold Coast route, Australia’s sixth-busiest, by 54 per cent from post-Covid highs, according to research by the Australian Airports Association.