Our guide to... New and forthcoming start-up airlines

Over the last three years the aviation industry has experienced turmoil, with Covid-19 and travel restrictions grounding airlines’ fleets worldwide, which led to huge bailouts and several carriers going out of business.

- MARK CASWELL

Pent-up demand and gaps in the market resulted in opportunities for new airlines to emerge, only for the war in Ukraine, the closure of Russian airspace and soaring fuel costs to put several spanners in the works.

Nonetheless, the list of potential start-up carriers continues to grow, and here we round up some of the contenders. As we have learnt with the airline industry, nothing is ever certain and some of these carriers may never see the light of day. The following information was correct at time of writing, but we will keep the online version up to date to reflect the situation.

BONZA

Plans for Australia’s newest airline were unveiled in February 2022, with Bonza targeting an initial route network of 27 domestic routes across 17 destinations operating from bases at Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast airports.

Bonza said that 93 per cent of its planned routes are currently unserved and that 96 per cent are not currently served by a low-cost carrier. Unlike most airlines, customers can only book flights via the Fly Bonza app, with the carrier reporting that 100,000 tickets had already been sold by late March.

The start-up carrier has taken delivery of four B737 Max 8 aircraft (named Shazza, Bazza, Sheila and Malc) with four more on order. The airline launched flights from the Sunshine Coast to Whitsunday Coast in January, and had rolled out all 27 routes by the end of May.

CANADA JETLINES

Canada Jetlines launched last year, nearly a decade after plans for the low-cost airline were first unveiled.