A Bonza of a time to Rockhampton and back

[Matt Coughran]

In January, Bonza held a 50% off sale, so I decided to book a joy flight return to Rockhampton. The cost of the Gold Coast to Rockhampton sector was $19.50 and the return flight was $24.50. Adding a selected seat into the mix, the total return cost was $55.00.


Flight Details:

Airline: Bonza
Flight Number: AB1543
Route: Gold Coast - Rockhampton
Aircraft: Boeing 737-8 Max
Rego: C-FLHI
Seat: 17A
Date: 03/02/2024


Arriving at Gold Coast airport at 6:15am and already being checked into the flight, we went straight through security and met up with some fellow plane spotters who were doing the same thing. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:25am from Gate 5.



Our first boarding call was at 6:50am. Within 7 minutes our boarding passes were scanned and we were on our way to our plane.



For those unfamiliar with Gold Coast Airport, majority of the domestic flights allow you to board via the tarmac which is a great opportunity to appreciate the size of the aircraft.



As Bonza’s fleet of aircraft is still reasonably small, the parent company, 777 Partners, sent two of their 737 Max 8 from their partner airline from Canada, Flair Airlines. Our aircraft for the day was Canadian registered C-FLHI sporting a hybrid livery of Bonza and Flair. To my knowledge this is the first time an airline has been allowed to fly aircraft and crew from another country domestically in Australia.



We boarded the aircraft through the front stairs only. The process was pretty quick although the load for the flight was quite light considering the aircraft size.

We took our seats, which for a low cost carrier, I found comfortable and had enough leg room to not feel cramped like some other airlines.
Before you know it, we were advised by the captain our flight time to Rocky will be 1 hour and cabin crew were to prepare the aircraft for departure. We pushed back 2 minutes ahead of schedule at 07:23 AM.



We would taxi to depart from RWY 14 with rotation at 07:29 AM

To view the departure video click here.
https://youtu.be/aR21oL26Om4

During the take off we headed south over Tweed Heads before making a left hand turn over Kingscliff/Casuarina to head north towards Rockhampton. We passed the skyline of Surfers Paradise and Stradbroke island before heading inland over Rainbow Beach on the Sunshine Coast.





Once the seatbelt sign was extinguished, I took advantage of the Bonza App. Instead of the traditional food trolley being pushed down the aisle in the hope of a sale it is always kept free as you can order your choices through the Bonza app. For this flight I ordered a banana bread waffle and an orange juice.



Within 5 minutes of ordering it was delivered to my seat. Personally I think this is a game changer for any airline that does not offer a complimentary meal or snack, other airlines in Australia should take note of this.







As the flight was not full, I had a walk around the cabin and took advantage of a few extra photo opportunities.



We started our descent into Rockhampton around Lake Monduran which took around 20 minutes before landing on Runway 33 at 08:27 AM with our scheduled arrival time of 08:50 AM.


To watch the landing of the flight click here



Only the front stairs were being used for disembarking, Clearing out the aircraft took around 10 minutes from landing and arriving at the gate (we were the last to get off by choice) and we walked directly back into the departure lounge for our return flight.



After disembarking our plane, it was a short tarmac walk to the terminal.