A REGIONAL airline giant is taking drastic measures in response to what they are describing as ‘unfair criticism’ from regional officials.
Mount Gambier Hospital Health Advisory Council(HAC) presiding member Maureen Klintberg has described the response by Regional Express to “scale back” its services to a senate inquiry as “disappointing”.
Flight reliability and the cost of airfares were highlighted by HAC in its submission to a senate inquiry into regional aviation services.
It appears this criticism is among concerns sparking Rex’s response.
“The current inquiry gave the HAC the opportunity to note concerns and issues that relate to the provision of quality health care and the best possible health outcomes in the region for patients,” Ms Klintberg said.
She said its submission addressed the inquiry’s terms of reference relating to “socio and economic impacts of air route supply and airfare pricing”.
“We understand the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee will visit the region for a public hearing in the near future where we will speake to the submission,” Ms Klintberg said.
Member for Barker Tony Pasin will meet with the Regional Express management board in response to the carriers announcement.
Rex, who made the announcement on Monday, is yet to detail how many flights between Adelaide and the Blue Lake city will be affected.
This follows the airline previously warning in February last year it would consider “severely withdrawing” services at Mount Gambier if Grant District Council proceeded with the proposed redevelopment of its airport.
“I am disappointed that we find ourselves in this situation,” Mr Pasin said yesterday.
“I will be meeting with the board of Rex to discuss a solution going forward.”
“The air service is of course incredibly important to the Mount Gambier community and I will work to ensure we can have the best possible service for our community.”
The Liberal backbencher also warned this was not the time for “grandstanding”.
“It’s a time to sit down and have considered and measured discussions regarding how best to move forward, which is what I aim to do,” Mr Pasin said.
Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell – who has boycotted using Rex in recent months to protest over its customer service levels – said yesterday the community must work together with Rex to maintain services.
“While the decision is disappointing, we need to work with Rex as a community to ensure this very valuable services continues,” Mr Bell said yesterday.
HAC presiding member Maureen Klintberg yesterday described the Rex’s response to its submission as “disappointing”.
In a statement released by Rex, the airline spokesperson said details of the changes would be announced shortly.
“Given the amount of unfair criticisms levelled at Rex by local officials, Rex has decided to scale back its services between Mount Gambier and Adelaide to better utilise the very scarce resources,” a Rex spokesperson said.
“As an airline that is solely dedicated to the provision of regional air services to 60 ports across all states of Australia, Rex understands that it is never pleasant to have travel plans disrupted.
“However, the local Mount Gambier community needs to understand that Mount Gambier cannot be sheltered from a phenomenon that affects all regional ports in Australia.”
The airline said Rex was the only major Australian carrier that has invested heavily in its future pilot needs by establishing the Australian Airline Pilot Academy at a cost of nearly $30m and training its own pilots.
“We believe that we have been very unfairly criticised for an outcome that has been caused by the lack of foresight and commitment by both Qantas and Virgin Australia to responsibly manage the pilot demand,” the carrier said.
“They simply resort to pillaging the stock of regional pilots whenever they face a crunch and Rex gets the brunt of it as our pilots are one of the best trained.”
The spokesperson said Rex was “undeniably” the best regional carrier in Australia with its network average fare rising by only 1.1pc per year over the past 15 years and with its reliability being consistently one of the best.
“Even during challenging periods like what we are experiencing right now. In spite of this, local officials continue to target Rex whenever they feel the need for political grandstanding.”
The airline said all carriers were forced to resort to reductions/cancellations to cope with the pilot shortage.
The spokesperson said independent figures showed Rex was the most reliable regional carrier and its cancellation rate was almost half of the other major regional carriers.
In response to calls for competition, the Rex spokesperson said competition in regional aviation could be “particularly detrimental” for all the smaller routes of less than 100,000 passengers a year.
