The low-cost carrier is set to name the new plane ‘Matilda’ after the Matildas football team, which reached the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-final this year. It will join Bonza’s four other 737 MAX 8 aircraft, which are nicknamed ‘Bazza’, ‘Shazza’, ‘Sheila’ and ‘Malc’.

The Leonardo AW139 was conducting a late-night medical rescue at Manly in May 2021 when its tail rotor struck a small tree, though the crew did not notice until after they had already discontinued the approach and landed at another site a kilometre away.

Starting on 8 December, the airline will fly three return services per week from Melbourne to Noumea, operating Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday services on its Airbus A320neo aircraft.

The carrier will continue to operate services from Perth to Albany, Esperance, and Carnarvon and Monkey Mia, while regional airline Skippers Aviation will retain its Perth–Laverton–Leonora and Perth–Wiluna–Meekatharra–Mount Magnet routes.