Howdy all, and hoping this post finds you well today. 2024 has not been a good year for airlines in Australia – well not if you’re not Qantas or Virgin Australia at least. YES – there are other airlines! Qantas just recorded a drop in profit after a record year last year – the poor dears only made $1.25 Billion AFTER TAX (AUD) so hard to see how they continue to operate. I can’t quite work out what Virgin Australia’s profit was as I’m ready different figures, but it seems they managed over $100million AUD in the first half of the year, after struggling for many years to make a profit.

So what about other airlines? Australia has always struggled to have a successful ‘third carrier’ as it is often labelled. Pre-covid Tiger Air had an Australian branch which closed down due to Covid and never returned, owned I believe by Singapore Airlines. Ther were the cheapest of the cheap here, I did do a review of sorts on them a few years back now.

However, Australia began the year with two other domestic carriers of note, Bonza and REX (Regional Express). REX had for decades built itself up offering connections in smaller planes to regional airports, but with the fall of Tiger and Virgin Australia temporarily shutting down when Covid hit, REX saw an opportunity to expand and start offering routes on bigger planes between capital and bigger cities. 2024 has not been kind to either of these airlines.

Bonza is no more sadly. It was a budget airline that boasted friendly staff and was a bit of a breath of fresh air in the Australian Aviation Market. It had a fleet of 737-800s and I had a flight to Alice Springs, base fare of $59AUD booked for August. That’s a fair distance for the price, just under 1900km. Alas, it was not to be. The airline had a strange set-up in terms of ownership and the parent company didn’t wish to spend more money to keep it afloat. Their first flight was on the 31^st of January, 2023, and they entered administration on the 30^th April 2024, lasting 15 months. It’s not long enough in my opinion to establish yourself as an airline, but I think one of their biggest issues was that no-one knew they existed. I would tell people I’d booked on Bonza to blank looks here in Australia. Josh Cahill did a review on them which was very positive, so it’s sad that an airline with potential has gone under.

REX Airlines went into voluntary administration at the end of July this year. It’s future is unclear but it reported owes a wild amount of debt of around half a billion dollars to nearly 5000 different creditors. REX still operates and flies, however its 737 fleet I believe is grounded and they are not flying into capital cities, but they are maintaining regional routes – which is essential because these are flights to places the big airlines do not fly.

But some are not deterred by this distressing aviation environment. In late August it was announced that a new airline would be entering the market, called themselves ‘Koala Airlines’ (or maybe just ‘Koala’). They are based in Melbourne and will be another budget carrier, and apparently are vowing to ‘use AI to take on the big carriers’. Although they have existed as a company since 2018/19, they have just announced they are entering the market. They will have a fleet of Beoing 737 Maxes, and are yet to announce when they will start flying. So – watch this space! I’ll try to fly them before they go out of business and give you a review!

So there you have it. As of now the two-airline monopoly is going strong and keeps prices higher than need be. You might be thinking ‘what about Jetstar’??? Generally in Australian Aviation terms Jetstar is a branch of Qantas, their figures are included in Qantas’s reporting. It’s owned and operated by Qantas, and a key to the power Qantas holds over commercial aviation in this country.

Let’s see how Koala do, and let’s hope that REX continues to operate essential regional routes. Thanks for popping by today. Take care wherever you are in the world – May the Journey Never End!