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Ultra-low-cost airline startup Zinc is flagging a potential change to its fleet and business model owing to possible difficulties in obtaining new aircraft.
The carrier, which had planned to launch from Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) with a fleet of all Airbus A320neo family aircraft, has conceded it may need to consider older A320ceo (current engine option) planes as part of its fleet mix.
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“Our financial model and related business plan still retains new A321neo and A320neo as our preferred aircraft type. However, we are also modelling mid-life A320ceo and A321ceo aircraft as optional scenarios,” said Zinc founder Peter Kelly.
“This is to ensure that we have the information required should we have to fall back to mid-life aircraft if we are unable to acquire our preferred aircraft at the time we require.”
Airbus’ current backlog for new commercial aircraft stands at above 9,000 as at the end of March 2026. According to Kelly, the potential change to older aircraft is “simply option modelling”.
“It does entail a considerable amount of work as mid-life aircraft financial modelling requires us to include many items that to not apply to new aircraft,” he said.
“For example, new seats and a cabin and toilet refurbishment – just three items out of a host of elements to be considered, then accurately costed and included. Different fuel burn is of course another consideration.”
The news comes as reports circulate that Vietnamese low-cost carrier Vietjet is planning to enter the Australian market, with The Australian citing industry sources that claim the airline has applied to CASA for an AOC and been allocated more than 2,250 slots at Sydney Airport.
Kelly says he is not concerned about Vietjet’s potential launch of an Australian subsidiary.
“Naturally I have read various reports about VietJet establishing a domestic airline in Australia. Zinc is structured to be able to compete head on with the incumbents as well as any new entrants,” he told Australian Aviation.
“We have no fear whatsoever should they decide to enter the Australian domestic air travel market. We always considered the potential of new players in the market. Be delinquent if we didn’t, wouldn’t it?”
The ACCC last month expressed cautious optimism about the potential launch of Zinc and fellow startup Koala Airlines, with the Qantas Group and Virgin Australia currently operating 98.5 per cent of passenger flights.
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