The collapse of Bonza is bad news for Australian air travellers, particularly those (like me) who live on the Sunshine Coast where the budget airline was based. But it’s no surprise. The end of Australia’s two airlines policy in the 1990s, in which two identical firms, one private and one public, operated identical fleets and schedules, was supposed to bring a flowering of competition. Instead, we’ve seen a litany of failures.
The first major example was Compass Airlines, which was launched in 1990, failed in 1991, relaunched in 1992 and finally collapsed in 1993. Since then, we’ve seen Tigerair, OzJet and Strategic Airlines come and go, among many others.
