Regional Express set to cut more regional services amid network review

The airline says its ‘heart is in the country’ but more regional services are set to be axed by the airline in coming weeks.

Rex deputy chairman John Sharp is frustrated by the lack of action by the ACCC on what he believes is predatory behaviour by Qantas. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Regional Express says its “heart’s in the country” but its services are increasingly being withdrawn from the regions, with the ASX-listed airline confirming a networkwide review is under way.

The carrier has already announced it will pull out of the Albury-Melbourne route and fly its last Sydney-Canberra service on Sunday. While the broader review is still to be finalised, other routes which could face the axe include those from Sydney to Cooma, Lismore, Grafton and Bathurst. The Adelaide to Kangaroo Island service is also under scrutiny.

None of those services can be availed by booking through the Rex website after June 30 – when the government-funded Regional Airline Network Support program ends.

Rex deputy chairman John Sharp would not confirm the demise of those specific routes, but said discussions were continuing at a board level about the airline’s regional network.

“In the case of Sydney-Cooma, that route carries only 7000 passengers a year, yet Qantas has seen fit to add 15,000 seats,” said Mr Sharp. “There’s absolutely no way in the world anyone could compete with that, which is exactly what they want.”

Qantas is yet to actually operate the route which was proposed before the Delta outbreak shutdown much of New South Wales last year.

Mr Sharp also blamed Qantas for Rex’s decision to end Melbourne-Albury flights after 39-years of service.

“Pre-Covid, 22,000 passengers a year flew between Albury and Melbourne, hardly enough passengers for one carrier, let alone two,” Mr Sharp said.

“Qantas then entered the route – one of nine Rex regional routes targeted by Qantas during the Covid pandemic – dumping an additional 31,000 seats annually into the market.” The axing of Sydney-Canberra services was due to price hikes by Sydney Airport and increased capacity as a result of Virgin’s partnership with Link on the route, Mr Sharp added.

The airline has repeatedly complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about Qantas.

Mr Sharp said the ACCC appeared “content to sit on the sidelines watching rather than getting in and umpiring”. “I can’t understand the ACCC. There’s all these consumer issues around Qantas’s treatment of travel credits and refunds expressed by thousands of people but they don’t seem to be doing anything,” he said.

“One wonders what the point of the ACCC is.”

A Qantas spokesman said Rex would always blame its rival when it decided to withdraw from a route. He said Qantas did not start flying a service unless it believed it was commercially viable and that applied to Albury-Melbourne.

“Rex’s idea of competition is that it’s something that happens to others, because they believe they have an enshrined right to be the only carrier on some regional routes,” said the spokesman.

“The reality is that Qantas services have been welcomed by regional communities as providing competition and flexibility.”

The capacity reductions by Rex in regional areas were in contrast to the airline’s expansion into major city routes, using Boeing 737 jets. The carrier will soon welcome a seventh 737 into its fleet with more metropolitan routes in the pipeline.