It’s a great day for aviation in Australia.

The new low-cost carrier Bonza took its maiden flight today, flying between the Sunshine Coast and the Whitsundays.

It’s a major milestone for the airline, which is trying to break into a competitive domestic aviation market.

The key to its possible success: the vast majority of its proposed routes are not currently served by any airline.

As part of Bonza’s phased rollout of flight releases, travellers are now able to book flights to 12 destinations on 15 regional routes. 

From the Sunshine Coast, these include:

• Albury: Fares starting from $69 per person one way, 2 flights per week
• Avalon: Fares starting from $79 per person one way, 3 flights per week
• Cairns: Fares starting from $79 per person one way, 5 flights per week
• Coffs Harbour: Fares starting from $49 per person one way, 2 flights per week
• Mackay: Fares starting from $59 per person one way, 3 flights per week
• Mildura: Fares starting from $79 per person one way, 2 flights per week
• Newcastle: Fares starting from $59 per person one way, 4 flights per week
• Port Macquarie: Fares starting from $49 per person one way, 2 flights per week
• Rockhampton: Fares starting from $49 per person one way, 3 flights per week
• Townsville: Fares starting from $69 per person one way, 4 flights per week
• Whitsunday Coast: Fares starting from $59 per person one way, 3 flights per week

In addition, travellers can fly between:

• Cairns <> Rockhampton: Fares starting from $59 per person one way, 2 flights per week
• Cairns <> Mackay: Fares starting from $49 per person one way, 2 flights per week
• Newcastle <> Whitsunday Coast: Fares starting from $79 per person one way, 2 flights per week
• Rockhampton <> Townsville: Fares starting from $49 per person one way, 3 flights per week

Bonza launch routes

Bonza’s fleet comprises Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with an all-economy layout.

The only place to book airfares direct is on the FlyBonza app. This is where customers will also check in and access their boarding passes – eliminating the need for printing and reducing the need to check-in at the airport.

Once onboard, the retail offering, travel information and more will be available exclusively through the app. This includes purchasing food and beverages, which will be delivered directly to customers’ seats.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

Qantas is giving travelers even more ways to explore India by growing their codeshare partnership with IndiGo.

They started this tie-up last August, teaming up with India’s biggest domestic airline to help passengers easily get from Qantas flights from Sydney and Melbourne to cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, and Goa via Bengaluru and Delhi.

Now, they’re taking it to the next level. Qantas customers can now connect to eight more cities in India, making it 21 in total from Delhi and Bengaluru. Plus, there are over 250 new IndiGo flights to choose from.

The new domestic codeshare destinations in India are:

• Guwahati
• Indore
• Chandigarh
• Mangalore
• Jaipur
• Nagpur
• Thiruvananthapuram
• Visakhapatnam

The existing codeshare destinations are:

• Ahmedabad
• Amritsar
• Bengaluru
• Chennai
• Delhi
• Goa
• Mumbai
• Kochi
• Kolkata
• Hyderabad
• Lucknow
• Patna
• Pune

Qantas Frequent Flyers can earn and redeem points on codeshare flights, and IndiGo recognises Qantas elite status with benefits like priority check-in and priority baggage.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

Virgin Australia is ending the year with a bang by announcing a new international route: a daily return Cairns-Tokyo (Haneda) service commencing 28 June 2023.

This is a major milestone for the airline as it continues its post-pandemic recovery.

The Cairns-Tokyo route will be operated by a brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, with seating expected to be similar to Virgin’s existing narrowbody fleet (recliner business class seats in a 2-2 layout, and economy seats in a 3-3 layout).

Flight VA77 is scheduled to depart Cairns at 1.15pm and arrive at Haneda 7 hours and 45 minutes later at 8.00pm. The return flight VA78 is scheduled to depart Haneda at 9.45pm and arrive in Cairns at 6.15am.

Economy guests will be able to purchase food onboard as well as pillows, blankets and amenity kits – all of which will be complimentary for business class travellers.

Virgin Australia will also boost its partnership with Japan’s largest airline All Nippon Airways (ANA). The airlines will offer more codeshare flights and give each other’s elite customers reciprocal loyalty benefits.

To celebrate the news, Virgin Australia has fares from as low as $699. Reward seats are available in both economy and business class, so if you’re interested, snap them up!

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

Singapore Airlines has announced a “final” six-month extension of KrisFlyer miles that are due to expire between January and June 2023.

The airline has reversed course after informing members a few months ago that “KrisFlyer miles expiring from January 2023 will no longer be eligible for complimentary extension as part of our COVID-19 membership support measures. Please be reminded to redeem your miles before they expire”.

Now, the airline says that if you have KrisFlyer miles in your account expiring between January to June 2023, they are eligible for a final 6-month extension. This extension will be processed automatically, and no action is required on your part.

This means that miles in your account will only begin expiring from July 2023.

Like many airlines around the world, Singapore Airlines has been extending the validity of miles in its KrisFlyer loyalty program ever since the pandemic began.

With border closures and travel restrictions in place, this was the only reasonable option for the airline and its competitors to take.

But now that travel is returning to normal and restrictions appear to be behind us, airlines including SIA are returning to their pre-pandemic policies.

For KrisFlyer members, that means that miles will once again expire 36 months after being accrued, and miles that were extended due to the pandemic will begin expiring from July 2023.

To check when your miles are due to expire, simply log into your KrisFlyer account then select Miles -> Miles Validity.

The best way to use miles is, of course, to book a flight.

You can book any available flight in the future, but be aware that you won’t get miles back if you cancel the booking after the miles were due to expire.

Other options for using your miles include booking hotel stays and buying products from the KrisShop.

You can also extend the miles, for a fee. This costs 1,200 miles or US$12 per 10,000 miles extended, and you’ll get an extra six months to use them (12 months for Silver and Gold frequent flyers).

You can only extend miles like this once.

Finally, you can also transfer miles to Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program at a ratio of 1.55 KrisFlyer miles = 1 Velocity Point. Velocity Points don’t expire so long as you keep your account active by earning or redeeming at least one point every 24 months.

The bottom line is: don’t let your KrisFlyer miles go to waste. Check when they’re going to expire and make a plan to use them.

To get tips like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter:

The Philippines’ flag carrier Philippine Airlines will launch direct flights between Perth and Manila next year.

The airline last served Perth (via Darwin) very briefly in 2013. This time, it’s returning with a non-stop service which will launch on 27 March 2023, with tickets on sale from today.

Philippine Airlines will operate three flights a week on a modern Airbus A321 neo, which has 12 business class seats and 156 economy seats.

It will be departing Manila at 12.05am and arriving in Perth at 7.15am. The flight will then leave Perth at 8.30am and land in Manila at 3.50pm.

The A321neo business class cabin has three rows of seats in a 2-2 layout, all of which recline into a fully flat bed.

The economy cabin meanwhile has 156 seats in a 3-3 configuration.

Both cabins offer in-seat power and USB outlets, seat-back screens and wifi.

The service is the result of a partnership between the WA Government, through Tourism Western Australia, Philippine Airlines and Perth Airport.

The new flight had been scheduled to begin operating in March 2020 but was disrupted due to COVID-19.

To get news like this delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter: