Bonza’s Positivity About Aviation 2022 – 2023 is Infectious

Careers wise I wanted to know where they are up to and what impact their 2022 launch would have on aviation job prospects. “We anticipate several hundred roles will result, of course determined by growth planning and the regulator,” says Jordan.

“We are recruiting for post holder positions now, once appointed, those leaders will set the pace for the next phase likely to be crewing. Assuming we get the AOC secured in the second quarter of 2022, the first aircraft are likely due in the first quarter from the USA.”

If we are to believe the gossip, then Bonza is not the only employment opportunity likely to rear its head in 2022 in our region. Whispers are that a certain major carrier will open pilot recruitment mid-2022 as will one of the Pacific-based airlines. We have seen airline flight crew recruitment revive in recent months with EFA, Alliance, Rex and Cobham Aviation seeking pilot candidates this year, as well as Qantas restarting its academy recruitment. Virgin Australia, Rex, Alliance, Corporate Air and Cobham are recruiting for cabin crew at time of writing. The US pilot shortage is widely accepted and a select number of regional carriers are hiring under the E3 visa now.

The ex-pat jobs landscape has changed, with Hong Kong not issuing visas for Cathay Pacific pilots to return to work and others quietly considering individual referrals rather than direct recruitment. While Emirates just announced a surge in its recruitment plans, which includes 777 and A380 pilot hires and 6,000 new employees over the next six months.

We are at the beginning of a gradual and staged reopening process. Any industry reopening is a complex one. One that relies on planning, forecasting, anticipating, and responding to the expected market demands and forces. This is a large-scale event for our industry and two obvious hurdles around employment and onboarding will be managing high volume applications for many industry roles, definitely for pilot
roles and subsequent training delays. From an HR perspective, most recruitment processes are not built to manage the expected high volume and response times can suffer. After re-posting a regional flight crew role there were 800 views in 30 minutes. Another employer received 60 applications within 60 minutes following a post.

Anecdotally, I’ve experienced the level of customer service generally surge as we exit the pandemic. Be that dealing with the monolith that is Telstra or the local IGA I have felt ‘cared for’, which also means their staff are feeling valued and well trained. Will aviation rise to these reinvigorated standards of care for their customers and staff or will cost cutting and scarcity hold them in the pain of the pandemic?

This was a question I was compelled to ask Bonza. Will we see a replica of our closed LCCs or will they take up the mantle of affordability that includes real, tangible service? Jordan said, “Our senior team spent a lot of time discussing what we are and what we are not as well as our values as an organisation.” I asked him to pull out what he considered were their top three.

“Our Customer: we are here because of our customers. An organisation’s culture can become diluted over time. For us, wherever you are, whether it’s working directly for Bonza or as one of our partners, we want to make sure everybody knows we are here because of, and for our customers.

Empowerment: is important, we see our team as essentially a family who we empower to make decisions quickly. That avoids problems being passed up and down the line.

Passionate: we are innovative, motivated, and happy in what we do. We all spend way too much time in our jobs to not enjoy them, and that needs to come through in all our teams. It is obvious to passengers on an aircraft if the crew enjoy their jobs or not.”

I, like many in our industry, see 2022-23 as an opportunity to do things a little differently, to be better as we ramp up. How we deliver service, how we care for our employees and how we operate within this highly connected ecosystem. From my conversations with Jordan and McNally, Bonza is certainly starting with a clear aspirational vision that resonates.

If you have guessed that I am feeling somewhat upbeat about the next 12-24 months you would be correct. I feel incredibly fortunate to still be operating. I am also an optimist, but the indications are there. Next steps, to keep pace with the changing landscape, to pre-plan and react quickly to the expected surge of hires and to reinvigorate aviation training by inspiring our school leavers and second career prospective aviators to get back on track and trust their careers to us.