REGIONAL Express Airlines (Rex) has hit out at calls from the Australian Airports Association (AAA) to end “airline secrecy” on high regional airfares, claiming hypocrisy from the aviation group.
Rex claimed the AAA was being hypocritical as its own members had never disclosed the basis for the “astronomical” head taxes they impose, which Rex claims in some cases can amount to over $50 for a one-hour flight.
It follows an AAA request to probe how domestic airfares are set to bring an end to what it claims is a regional airfare rip off.
“People living in regional Queensland should not have to pay more to get to Brisbane than the cost of a flight to South East Asia or New Zealand,” AAA chief executive Caroline Wilkie said.
“People living and working in the regions are facing real and significant financial challenges when they need to travel for medical appointments, boarding school or family events.”
Rex refuted the comments by stating its pride of its “record on fare affordability”, which has been singled out by the Federal Government Senate Committee.
“In fact, Rex’s Community Fare Scheme, an initiative invented by Rex over three years ago, was highly commended by the Senate Committee and was recommended by this committee for other airlines to emulate,” a spokesperson said.
“On 30 July 2019, Rex added 23 Queensland regional and rural communities to its Community Fare Scheme, making a total of 38 regional communities nationwide that now have access to very affordable fares which are readily accessible to all.”
Mount Gambier is one of those regional communities which has now had access to the Community Fare Scheme for over 12 months.
That has seen travellers purchase $129 conditional one-way fares on a portion of seats to Adelaide and Melbourne.
Grant District Council figures show one in five people had purchased flights under the scheme.
In July, council announced 82,000 passengers had flowed through the Mount Gambier Airport in the last financial year, 1.5pc increase from the previous year.
“Since Rex’s inception in 2002, its average ticket price has only increased at a rate of 1.2pc per year, much lower than inflation, which means that its fares have been decreasing in real terms,” a Rex spokesperson said.
“Rex’s average net profit per passenger for a 400km flight of around one hour is less than $14 which is lower than a cab driver’s profit for a one-hour ride.”
In contrast, Rex said the AAA should look in the mirror to see if its members are “gouging the local community by their exorbitant airport head taxes”.
“Many regional airports are reaping in between $1m to $3m of head tax revenue when the efficient cost of maintaining a regional airport is about $600,000 per year – which is already more than what 75pc of the airports on Rex’s network are receiving each year,” a spokesperson said.
“This means that regional passengers to some of the communities like Dubbo are paying millions of dollars extra every year for their air tickets.”
However, Grant council committed to lowering the Mount Gambier airport head tax by $2.20 inclusive of GST, which Rex is matching.
The $129 “Rex Community Fare” is available on 25pc of seats on flights to both Melbourne and Adelaide for advanced bookings of at least 30 days before departure.
In addition, all remaining seats one day before departure will be available at the Community Fare (Rex Promo) level.
The historic five-year partnership agreement is in place until June 30, 2023.
