Yahoo Finance Bonza update: Qantas' offer to Aussies fearing for jobs as CEO's early-morning memo leaked
Staff have been left in limbo after Bonza was plunged into voluntary administration.
Qantas has thrown a lifeline to Bonza staff and customers after the low-cost airline was plunged into voluntary administration. Planes with Bonza's purple livery were grounded across the country yesterday, which left loads of people scrambling to find other flights to get to their destination.
Bonza CEO Tim Jordan apologised to passengers as he advised all services were "temporarily suspended" while he determined the "ongoing viability" of the airline. Staff now have an uncertain future as they wait to hear whether their jobs are at risk of going in the bin.
But Qantas has stepped in to give staff and passengers who have been left in limbo some peace of mind.
Have you been affected by Bonza's financial troubles? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com
"We extend our thoughts to our aviation industry colleagues and their families – from pilots and cabin crew to flight planners and operations controllers – who will all feel the impact of today’s news," Qantas said in a statement.
"If Bonza employees would like to discuss recruitment opportunities within Jetstar and Qantas, particularly in specialised fields which are unique to aviation, we’ve set up a dedicated page on the Jetstar careers website.
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"For any customers with a cancelled Bonza flight on a route we operate, to make sure you’re not further out of pocket, you can fly with us at no cost where we have seats available."
The Flying Kangaroo has six overlapping routes with Bonza and customers can jump on board a Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar flight for free.
There are four routes out of Melbourne (to the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Mildura and Alice Springs), one from Avalon to the Gold Coast and one from the Gold Coast to Cairns. Passengers can also hop on a flight that will take them close to their original destination like going to Brisbane instead of the Gold Coast.
Tim Jordan's memo to staff at 3am
Bonza passengers who arrived at airports at the early hours of the morning were told their flights had been cancelled and they would have to find alternative transportation.
However, 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."
Will Bonza customers get discounts?
For the passengers who have been left in the lurch by Bonza's struggles, many are wondering whether they will be compensated.
Sarah told A Current Affair she paid a lot of money for a holiday in Darwin that was meant to start this week and the flight cancellation has messed up a lot of her connecting tours.
"This is my planned holiday, which I haven't had for a long time, and I was worried so I have been diligent in actually contacting [Bonza and] making sure that there was nothing wrong with my flight out of here tomorrow night, and there is, and I don't have an alternative," she said.
Tracy Hilbert was stranded at Melbourne Airport when the flight she booked to see her family following the death of her father was cancelled.
"It's just really hard today because I should have been up there now and with my mum, my brother, and my other family," Hilbert told Today. "I've never had this problem before with them. It's only a two-hour flight. Now, it's going to take me all day to get up there."
She had to fork out thousands of dollars to eventually get to her destination.
But Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas said not much is known about compensation at this stage.
"It is unclear at this stage whether they will, typically they will become unsecured creditors," Thomas revealed to Channel 9.
"It depends whether they have taken out travel insurance, which is a really important thing to do, particularly in this post-COVID world where there's been a lot of disruptions."
He said while there have been some rumblings about the airline's finances, the suddenness of this week's cancellations weren't on many peoples' radar.
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