The airline characterised the decision as “step back to allow us to take a leap forward”, but it comes amid booming domestic travel.

The airline had already faced some criticism for cancelling flights which it blamed on a shortage of pilots, a problem also experienced by Rex Airlines which has parked a third of its planes because of staffing issues.

The airline also lost its chair, Rick Howell, after only three months. However, it was still looking at establishing a third base of operations, separate to Melbourne and Maroochydore, and promised more aircraft.

Going in the opposition direction, Alliance Aviation, which mainly services the charter and wet lease market, announced an increase in its profit guidance today while Qantas has previously said it was on track to a record $2.48 billion profit.

The privately-owned Virgin has also boomed and was likely to announce a float later this year after it revealed revenue of $2.5 billion for the first half, but does not disclose earnings.

Bonza commercial officer Carly Povey wrote to customers today saying the airline was aware that in the past couple of months, not everyone has had a good experience with Bonza “and we need to stare directly into why that is – specifically when we cancel or delay flights”.

“So in order for us to earn your trust, as we know that we’re at the start of that journey, we have decided to take a step back to allow our services to become more reliable. We will be implementing a range of changes to our schedule from August 1 based on what we have learnt so far and the feedback you’ve given us with regards to route demand,” she said.

“You could say, we’re taking a step back to allow us to take a leap forward. Airlines the world over often tweak their schedules and, for Bonza, this will be the first time we make changes to frequency and routes so we wanted to be really transparent around the changes and why we feel they are really important to deliver on customer commitment.

“We’ve been compelled to take out five routes where there isn’t sustainable demand at present: Sunshine Coast to Coffs Harbour, Sunshine Coast to Port Macquarie, Sunshine Coast to Tamworth, Cairns to Mackay and Toowoomba Wellcamp to Whitsunday Coast.

“Twenty-two routes remain and we’re reducing some routes by one flight per week. Three of the many strong performing routes, namely Sunshine Coast to Albury and Melbourne (Avalon) plus Melbourne (Tullamarine) to Port Macquarie, will welcome a new service each week.”

Customers booked on routes impacted (from 1st August to 28th October) will be contacted and will automatically receive a full refund or alternate flights with Bonza, depending on their scenario.

She said the changes would allow the airline to to build in additional spare capacity within our current fleet of four aircraft.

By focusing on routes that were performing “very well”, Bonza was also “taking decisive action by going where the demand is”. That would set the airline up for the long haul.