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Issue #401: Blindsided
Did Bonza get a bum rap?
It would have been the Australian aviation story of 2024 – the sudden and spectacular disintegration of Australia’s newest jet airline – were it not for the sudden and spectacular disintegration of Rex’s domestic jet operations just a couple of months later. Yet, while Rex limped on with government support and eventually found a new buyer for its Saab operations, Bonza suffered the ignominy of losing all its leased aircraft and being consigned, as with so many Aussie airlines before it, to the dustbin of history. The prevailing narrative since then has been that Bonza was an insane idea, its business model would never work, and its planes were simply too large – but is that necessarily so?
Bonza’s former CEO, Tim Jordan, has largely kept his counsel for the last two years, understandably wishing to avoid the limelight; in April, however, having taken the time to breathe and recuperate, he was finally ready to talk about what went wrong. The resulting interview was, we think, one of the best Australian Aviation Podcasts we’ve ever done, and Jake Nelson in our cover feature lets Tim relate the Bonza story from his perspective: what happened, why it happened, and what he could have done differently. It’s a raw look into the behind-the-scenes toll that Bonza’s collapse took on all the “Legends” who believed in the dream, and if you find the feature insightful, we highly recommend you go check out the full conversation in our podcast.
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Elsewhere in the issue, we have something of a mini-section on rotary aviation centred around Rotortech 2026, Australia’s major rotary-wing aviation expo, which hit the Gold Coast in May; you’ll find announcements and pictures from the show floor alongside a recap of how the event shook out. Rotortech is bookended by two glimpses into the future of rotary flight from Steve Kuper, including the MV-75 Cheyenne and plans to replace Marine One, the US presidential helicopter. Also on the Defence front, Steve digs deep into the National Defence Strategy to examine what’s on offer for Australia’s air warfare strategy over the next decade, while Rob Dougherty looks at the rise of first-person-view drones and how they are reshaping the battlefield. We blast off beyond the skies this issue, too, as Space Connect journalist Bethany Alvaro looks at Australia’s contribution to the recent historic Artemis II mission that sent humans moonward for the first time since the 1970s.
Back in the world of aviation, Jake visits Malaysia and asks what it might take for Kuala Lumpur to compete with the big hubs in Singapore and Hong Kong; legendary female pilot Deb Lawrie tells the story of how she took on Ansett to win the right to fly; Aviation/Aerospace Australia’s Anntonette Dailey discusses how sending aviators to schools can help open up the talent pipeline; and we put out a call for help to preserve former Australian Aviation contributor John Vogel’s time capsule of Sydney Airport history – not to mention, of course, our regular sections like Warbirds, Traffic and Register, ably handled as always by Hannah Dowling.
Enjoy the issue,
The Australian Aviation Team
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The eagle has new wings: The VH-92 Patriot and the dawn of a new presidential era
Steve Kuper Editor, Australian Aviation
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Opinion: Australia is being left badly under-equipped for the drone era
Michael Shoebridge Founder And Director Strategic Analysis Australia
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Lasers, deep space, and Artemis II: Australia’s role in the new era of space exploration
Bethany Alvaro, Journalist, Space Connect
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How first-person drones are reshaping the battlefield
Robert Dougherty Senior Journalist Defence Connect
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Opinion: Could our retiring Tigers be transformed into ‘Ghost Tigers’?
Rob Dougherty Senior Journalist, Defence Connec
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