{"id":715400,"date":"2026-06-04T20:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/715400\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T20:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:02:15","slug":"zinc-airlines-australia-low-cost-carrier-plans-to-run-out-of-western-sydney-international-airport-to-compete-with-jetstar-and-virgin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/715400\/","title":{"rendered":"Zinc Airlines Australia: Low-cost carrier plans to run out of Western Sydney International Airport to compete with Jetstar and Virgin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChrisSave<\/p>\n

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The mind behind Zinc Airlines, a proposed new domestic airline, says he has received interest from UAE investment groups since revealing plans for the ultra-low cost carrier.<\/p>\n

Despite Australian aviation historically being a tough market for new challengers, Zinc Airlines aims to take advantage of the opening of Western Sydney International airport to build out an ultra-low-cost carrier. Its goal is to bring meaningful competition to the market, dominated by Qantas-owned Jetstar<\/a> and Virgin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ZincZinc Airlines hopes to enter the market on the ultra-low-cost carrier segment. Matt Absalom-Wong\/Zinc<\/p>\n

Peter Kelly, a consultant and previous Qantas loyalty boss, said he had been inundated with queries from investors in Australia and overseas in his bid to raise $225 million to launch Zinc, a plan that first emerged publicly last month. The capital-raising effort was \u201cgoing very well,\u201d he said, though he emphasised it had not received offers of funding.<\/p>\n

Parties based in the US, Europe and the Middle East, specifically, from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have been in touch. They are the \u201cpeople who are behind the airlines, and people who are involved with the sovereign wealth funds there\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Kelly, who helped start Qantas\u2019 loyalty program and has consulted to airlines in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, describes himself as a \u201cmainly a commercial person\u201d who would structure Zinc with ultra-low cost carrier \u201ccost discipline\u201d from inception.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Rex\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

The plan for Zinc was first written about The Australian Financial Review.<\/p>\n

Asked to describe the size of the investment interest, Kelly said some was on the small side, $10 million being the smallest, and some involved larger figures. He said he had heard from \u201cfamily offices\u201d and \u201csmall financial entities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for a cornerstone investor,\u201d said Kelly, who would ideally fund half of the $125 million in equity capital. The airline would require another $100 million as a standby liquidity facility to help it weather \u201cstressed downside scenarios\u201d like fare weakness, adverse fuel and currency movements, and delays in card payment.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder-capitalisation is a common reason why new airlines fail in this market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ZincZinc Airlines aims to take advantage of the opening of Western Sydney International airport to build out an ultra-low-cost carrier.Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n

Once fully funded, Zinc would aim to offer tickets costing less than current low-cost carriers, flying 15 efficient A321neos between Western Sydney International, Melbourne, Brisbane (airports with no curfew), and the Gold Coast. \u201cLater we add Adelaide,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Kelly, who is working along with his son, Mark, a payments and loyalty consultant, said there was no timeline for the cap raise but it would be in \u201cmonths, not weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be out there basically as a disruptor rather than trying to stimulate more demand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zinc, Kelly said, will seek what he described as Ryanair\u2019s strategy to keep the planes in the air and full. Western Sydney, he says, has a catchment of nearly 3 million people to serve. At the same time, Zinc is removing complexity in crew by ensuring the plane returns to its home port by the afternoon, where a fresh crew awaits to fly later into the day.<\/p>\n

Kelly helped found Cyprus-based Cobalt Air in 2015, but left the company before its 2018 collapse.<\/p>\n

Despite the interest in a new airline, Australia has proven a notoriously difficult market for new domestic entrants.<\/p>\n

Rex Airlines moved into serving capital cities before it fell into administration<\/a> in 2024 and was later purchased by US-based AirT, who have pledged to return the Australian carrier to its core regional business. Bonza flew for just over a year before suspending services in 2024.<\/p>\n

The cost and complexity of creating a start-up airline to compete in Australia means Zinc will need a person with operational experience to launch an airline, said aviation consultant Ian Thomas.<\/p>\n

\"PeterPeter Kelly, ex-Qantas loyalty expert wants found a new domestic low cost carrier called Zinc Airlines.Peter Kelly<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly difficult, and you need a reasonable amount of capital,\u201d said Thomas. \u201cYou need, essentially, a fighting fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to face intense competition, both from Jetstar at one end and also from Virgin, and you have to maintain a product and establish a product in the market where the others are already well established.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there are great difficulties in that area, but it\u2019s mainly being able to afford to ride out the inevitable pricing competition you\u2019re going to get from the other operators,\u201d said Thomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are inherent difficulties in trying to take them on\u201d across their established core market, Thomas said.<\/p>\n

Foreign investors have traditionally been a source of backing for local airlines. Singapore-backed Tigerair was taken over by<\/a> Virgin Australia in 2013, which shrank and then wound down its operations in 2020 as COVID hit.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Fume<\/a><\/p>\n

The prospect of WSI offering a fresh entry for a domestic airline into Australia has reportedly attracted would-be investors, who nonetheless could not attract financial backers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralian banks have nil appetite [for funding airlines],\u201d said aviation consultant Neil Hansford, who said National Australia Bank had long-memories of losses from backing Ansett, which collapsed in 2001.<\/p>\n

The fundamentals are that Australian banks can make excessive profits with real estate as security, much of which carries government guarantees and support.<\/p>\n

Banks, however, typically \u201clove aircraft leasing as it is asset-backed and easy to foreclose on\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day\u2019s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"ChrisChris Zappone<\/a> is a senior reporter covering aviation and business. He is former digital foreign editor.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-715400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}