The Sunshine Coast is soaring to new heights

It’s not often a major new airline joins Australian skies, and it’s even rarer they nominate their home base at an airport outside of a capital city…but this week that’s exactly what happened.

Our country’s newest airline and low-cost carrier, Bonza, announced Sunshine Coast Airport will be its first base and head office location. Our region is officially becoming Bonza’s backyard!

This major announcement means overnight destinations from Sunshine Coast Airport have almost tripled with Bonza planning to operate 37 flights per week to 12 routes – 9 of which have never been serviced from here!

• Cairns
• Townsville
• Whitsunday Coast
• Mackay
• Rockhampton
• Coffs Harbour
• Port Macquarie
• Newcastle
• Albury
• Melbourne
• Avalon
• Mildura

Based on this schedule, Sunshine Coast Airport says Bonza’s presence will bring in an additional 367,000 seats to the region and generate around $86 million in visitor expenditure in the first 12 months. This. Is. Massive.

Sunshine Coast Airport CEO Andrew Brodie put it perfectly when he said “This partnership between our airport and Bonza will open up a range of opportunities for employment, business development, tourism growth and the ability for friends, family and colleagues to reconnect.”

Mr. Brodie added “We have big plans for our airport and over the coming years we will double the size of our terminal, the Aerospace precinct will expand from 9 to 30 hectares and our Southern Gateway commercial development will start to take shape. By FY27, the developed Sunshine Coast Airport will facilitate increased visitation to tourism businesses across the state – supporting 4,000 direct and indirect jobs and $255 million in GSP.”

If anyone had any doubt about the attractiveness of the Sunshine Coast for major companies, this is proof we are worth investing in. It directly opens up our region more than ever before, providing flights for tourists and even FIFO workers.

It’s likely this is the first of many major announcements that will happen at our airport over the coming years as we continue to recover from COVID-19. We haven’t even seen the potential the international runway will bring yet.

That being said, there is a lot of work to be done to be able to handle the influx of visitation. As our tourism sector grows we need to ensure those who work in the industry don’t get priced out of the region. We know house prices have grown exponentially and rental availability is tight, so we need to implement solutions to ensure it’s not just the wealthy who can afford to live here.

It is also important we have the correct infrastructure and accommodation in place for these visitors. We know our roads are busy, we know there is a lack of luxury accommodation options available – these are all things that will help elevate the Sunshine Coast experience.

Development isn’t a bad thing, it just needs to be done correctly to ensure we don’t lose the lifestyle that is attracting people to the Sunshine Coast in the first place.

It is likely major announcements like this will get other big companies looking in our direction who maybe weren’t before. Or get others who were, to look even closer at us.

Subject to regulatory approval, the purple Bonza planes should be hitting our skies by mid-year.

Now is the time to invest in the region to take advantage of this exciting growth. Contact our team today to discuss what you need to put in place to start, or strengthen your investment portfolio.