Canada’s Flair Grabs 737 MAX Originally Destined for Australia’s Bonza

BY BHAVYA VELANI Published on April 17, 2023 0 COMMENTS

Miami-based private equity firm, 777 Partners, is redirecting a jet initially intended for the new low-cost airline Bonza to its Canadian budget carrier, Flair Airlines.

After experiencing regulatory delays, low-cost airline Bonza launched its commercial operations with four Boeing 737 MAX airplanes in late January. The company intends to expand its fleet to eight planes next year.

Flair Gets Bonza's 737

One of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, originally meant for Bonza and registered VH-UDV in Australia, has been redirected to Flair Airlines in Canada.

This decision came after the Canadian airline lost four of its 18 Boeing 737s due to unpaid debts, and the plane lessor Airborne Capital seized the aircraft. 777 Partners, backing Bonza, is also a part-owner of Flair.

Airborne Capital claims that Flair repeatedly failed to meet its payment obligations, and the repossession of aircraft has led to numerous flight cancellations.

Flair Airlines has taken legal action against Airborne following the repossession of its Boeing 737 aircraft. Meanwhile, 777 Partners, which owns the planes leased by Bonza, redirected a jet originally intended for the Australian carrier to Flair.

According to a spokeswoman for Bonza, this aircraft was never delivered to Bonza, and its diversion was part of "business as usual fleet planning" for the summer season.

As all of Bonza's planes are leased from 777 Partners, it is not expected to experience similar difficulties to Flair. Planespotters first reported the diversion of the aircraft.

CEO Insights

According to a spokeswoman from Bonza, a jet owned by 777 Partners' jet leasing arm and previously intended for delivery to the Australian carrier has been diverted to Flair Airlines in Canada as part of routine fleet planning for the Northern Hemisphere summer.

The spokeswoman clarified that the change does not affect Bonza's plans and that the company never took delivery of the specific aircraft, which was registered as VH-UDV, as reported by Financial Review.

AeroXplorer is on Telegram! Subscribe to the AeroXplorer Telegram Channel to receive aviation news updates as soon as they are released. View Channel

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED...

American Airlines Will Not Return to Tel Aviv Until 2027 » Atlanta Just Voted to Study Replacing TSA at the World's Busiest Airport » Alaska Airlines Has Just Taken Off to London for the First Time, and a Boeing 737 to Iceland Is Only One Week Away »

Bhavya Velani
An Aircraft maintenance engineering graduate and passionate aviation journalist with experience in working with a renowned publication such as Airlive, Airways Magazine Aviation A2Z, etc During my free time, I watch documentaries and read nonfiction books.

Comments (0)

Add Your Comment

TIPLogin or sign up to personalize your AeroXplorer experience.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED

American Airlines Has Just Opened Four New Nonstop Routes to Europe American Airlines touched down in European cities it had never served nonstop before, and returned to one it had abandoned for eight years, as four new transatlantic routes took off simultaneously on May 21, 2026, marking the opening day of the carrier's record summer 2026 schedule. ROUTES READ MORE »

Air Canada Is About to Fly Directly From Montreal to Mallorca for the First Time Air Canada is weeks away from launching a route that no Canadian carrier has ever flown before, a nonstop service between Montréal-Trudeau International Airport and Palma de Mallorca Airport on the sun-soaked Spanish island in the western Mediterranean. ROUTES READ MORE »

Kazakhstan's National Carrier Is Seeking State Funds to Launch Its First US Flights Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan, has formally sought financial support from the Kazakh state to help fund the launch of direct flights to the United States. ROUTES READ MORE »

AeroXplorer+