Exclusive: Tim Jordan blasts 777 Partners over Bonza collapse

“I tend to refer people to Google ‘777’, and ‘FBI’. There is a very detailed press release out there from October 2025, which gives you more backstory in terms of what’s been accused of a number of people within 777, but we were one of the first, if you like, dominoes, to fall,” he said.

“We were progressing very positively. There was a lot of positive momentum in everything that we were doing. We had gone past this point of inflection. We could see the future. And then our funding stopped without notice, and the aircraft weren’t there. They were repossessed,” he said.

“We were reliant on our sole investor. I was trying to do everything possible to reduce that reliance on that investor by bringing in our Australian investor. Logic says that that should have happened, but I think we just got caught up in all of the other noise surrounding 777.”

The FBI last year charged 777 Partners’ co-founder and chief financial officer over an alleged US$500 million fraud scheme, saying they had “fabricated lies of success and doctored financial records” to steal around half a billion dollars (more than AU$750 million) from lenders and investors.

Following Bonza’s collapse, Jordan and fellow Australian director Lidia Valenzuela, alongside Bonza’s administrator and liquidator, Hall Chadwick, had accused 777 Partners of undercapitalising the low-cost carrier, leading to its demise.

According to Jordan, the “only consistent thing” about 777 Partners’ financial support was its inconsistency, but he and the rest of his team were still blindsided by the abrupt end to support.

VIEW ALL

“If you actually look through the creditors’ report, you will see we received money very regularly, but the amounts were very irregular. So, the consistent thing was the inconsistency of the support that we received – but there was nothing suggesting that the support wouldn’t be there,” he said.

“Every logical part of you suggests that concluding the arrangement with this very significant Australian investor, that should have happened if what was happening in 777’s world was logical, and I don’t know what was happening, but it doesn’t appear to me to be logical.

“Yes, operating a new startup airline is not exactly a smooth sailing boat on a beautiful day. It’s hard every single day, and there’s things coming at you. So, it’s a rocky day, every day. But the events of the 30th [April 2024] were absolutely a surprise.”

777 Partners was the parent company of Bonza, which was liquidated in 2024 after having its aircraft abruptly repossessed. ASIC confirmed in April last year it had informed Bonza’s Australian and US-based directors it would not pursue them over the downfall of the carrier.