BONZA: Board movements. A bit weird.

The 777 Partners representative and Executive Chairman of Bonza, Richard ‘Rick’ Howell, has left, after only four months at the airline. With the recent re-assignment of an aircraft from Bonza to a Canadian low-cost airline it sounds like something is going on. Add the fact that aircraft have been taken back from the Canadian Flair Airways due to lack of lease payments, and it feels like there is something to see here.

We previously reported that a Boeing 737 MAX originally bound for Australian low-cost regional tourist airline Bonza, was diverted at the behest of their backer, 777 Partners to another of their airline interests, Flair based in Canada.

With Flair also being accused of alleged non-payment of aircraft lease fees, it looks like there is a bit of ‘trouble at t’mill’ for private equity airline investor 777 Partners.

Startup Specialist

777 Partners are accenting the startup specialist skill of Howell. Now Bonza is up and running, it may not be the best use of Rick’s talents. Maybe Flair’s issues will draw him back into the fold. The departure of Rick means 777 Partners will have no Australian-based director on the Bonza board.

The SMH conjectures that Howell might be needed to sort out a potential new operation in Asia or Africa. 777 Partners sort of corroborates this according to the AFR. They say he would move to ‘further early-stage aviation innovation projects within the 777 Partners portfolio’, whatever that means.

Profitability

Bonza aims to become profitable within two years. Believe me there are a lot of sceptics out there that think this is foolishly optimistic. They just can’t see how this niche carrier can be profitable with its infrequent service to tourist destinations.

Bonza claims it sold 100,000 seats across 5,000 flights being nearly full over the Easter period. It claims it was working on an average of 88% capacity from 6 to 11 April. Some of the busiest routes were Melbourne and Mildura to the Sunshine Coast and Rockhampton to Cairns

2PAXfly Takeout

It’s hard to know what this is all about. With Bonza operating 4 aircraft, and another one on the way, it certainly has established its presence in the market. But three months into operations seems a really early time for the founding CEO to depart. Maybe Flair could benefit from Howell’s Mr ‘Fix It’ skills for a bit of crisis management. Perhaps 777 Partners has other aeronautic projects he could work on.

Whatever the reason, this rapid move seems a little messy, urgent, or unthought-through.