International traffic in October 2023 was at 95 per cent of 2019 levels, with domestic traffic steady at 90 per cent for a total recovery of 91 per cent. Monthly passenger numbers also topped three million for the first time since January 2020, including more than 2.1 million domestic travellers.

Flight AB1523, Bonza’s inaugural service from its third base, departed the Gold Coast at 9:12am local time on board the airline’s first 737 MAX 8, VH-UIK ‘Bazza’, touching down in Townsville shortly before 11am. It is the first of 14 planned routes to be introduced over the end-of-year period.

Registered VH-X4A, the new aircraft has been given an Aboriginal art livery featuring over 20,000 dots. The paint job took around 100 painters two weeks to complete at Airbus’ facility in Mirabel, Canada.

In a Q&A session at the AFR Infrastructure Summit on Tuesday, the Minister said she “did not take the commercial interests of either Qantas or Virgin into consideration” when making the decision, and continued to stress that it was based on “the national interest”.