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Upstart carrier Koala Airlines says it will launch domestic services in late 2026 despite still not having any aircraft or appearing to hold a valid AOC.
Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, the airline’s CEO Bill Astling said Koala, which earlier this year fended off a winding-up application by apparent creditor Wealth Creation, is trying to fly under the radar but has backers who “understand aviation”.
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“We’re not trying to be Qantas or Virgin – our model is fundamentally different, and that’s why we’ve attracted the backing we have,” he said.
“We’ve deliberately kept a low profile – not because we’re stalling, but because we’re building something with a long-term, sustainable foundation. We’ve learned from the past – both ours and the industry’s – and we’re taking a disciplined, strategic approach.
“We’re on track to start operations late next year, but we’re not in the business of giving our competitors a 12-month head start.”
On its website, Koala – founded by Astling in 2018 – features numerous renders of 737 MAX 8s in its own livery, the same aircraft type used by Bonza before its liquidation.
Despite Koala claiming to hold the Air Operator’s Certificate, CASA.AOC.0317, no such AOC appears to exist in the CASA register, with the closest entry – CASA.138AWK.0317 – being registered to the state of Western Australia.
The company, which purchased Desert Air Safaris in 2019, said it aims to “carve out a unique niche that enhances the industry landscape without disrupting existing standards by creating a lasting impact on the industry”.
Speaking to ABC’s Four Corners last year, Astling offered few details on how the airline would operate or who was backing it, though indicated it would have a guaranteed cash refund policy and said it would fill “niches” unoccupied by the major domestic carriers.
“We are just not prepared to give away what our strategy is and allow competitors to be able to think, ‘right, well, we can work on this or work on that,’” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of support. We’ve also got a lot of sceptics. I’ve had a few people who’ve said, ‘Have you appointed the liquidator yet?’ So I’ve had to tell ’em, we’re putting ’em out to tender.”
The news comes more than a year after the collapse of Bonza and the voluntary administration of Rex, which had each tried to break into the domestic jet market in different ways – Bonza by flying point-to-point services to underserved destinations, and Rex by competing with Qantas and Virgin on lucrative domestic trunk routes.
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says:There is a risk in everything we do in life and logic in business dictates we take the path of least risk but in the case of Koala Airlines there appears to be a view that there is no risk. I applaud confidence but this case is a dead set worry. Based on all the evidence available one has to ask who or what investor/s would gamble how many hundreds of millions of dollars in an aviation/B737 airline venture in Australia which by definition is not aimed at our rural families who are in most need but in real terms aimed at reducing the returns of our current two majors. If Koala is serious, may I suggest that they present their credentials to our Fed. Govt. and hold serious talks with a view to life support for Rex. That would be an interesting result.