Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism Kevin Hogan says the government should be doing everything it can to ensure Australia can maintain a competitive aviation sector, following the placing of Bonza Airlines into voluntary administration.
Hall Chadwick have been appointed as the voluntary administrators.
The company said the Bonza fleet will be grounded up to and including tomorrow (Thursday, May 2) while talks continue on the future of the airline and its 150 staff.
Mr Hogan says competition in our aviation sector is vital for our tourism industry – particularly our regional tourism industry – and the broader Australian economy.
“Currently the balance of our aviation market is not right with Qantas and Virgin maintaining around 93% market share of the sector. This is more than Coles and Woolworths,” Mr Hogan said.
“Bonza’s entry into the Australian aviation market in early 2023 was welcomed by our tourism industry and those in regional areas at the time.
“In a country as vast as Australia, the regional dispersal of domestic and international tourists is often unequally shared.”
Mr Hogan said of the 68 regions outside Australia’s capital cities, more than half had over 10 per cent of jobs directly or indirectly linked to the visitor economy.
“Close to 30% of the Australian population live, work and study in regional, rural, and remote areas.
“The Government should be doing everything it can to ensure Australia can maintain a competitive aviation sector and our regional areas are afforded a similar level of air service, ticket price affordability and flexibility to what our capital cities have.”
