In a statement lodged to the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday, the regional focused aviation group said it would “revamp” its flight network after “predatory” moves by the country’s largest airline to cost out Rex on routes that can only sustain one carrier.
Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said Qantas was deliberately attempting to damage the airline’s traditional regional market. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian“Qantas is making record losses during COVID and has received an estimated $1.2bn in commonwealth assistance to stay solvent but, despite this, feels it is appropriate to use taxpayers’ funds to finance the losses on new services whose sole objective is to weaken the competitor.
Mr Barilaro said he intended to call on the federal government to make sure regional carriers wouldn’t be forced to leave behind any regional communities when a federal emergency funding program ended next month. “The fact is Rex is receiving millions of dollars in bespoke government assistance for its regional operations at the same time as it’s acquiring new aircraft to fly between capital cities.”
“Unfortunately, the expected drag on Rex’s financial position from the losses on the above eight routes will mean that Rex will be unable to continue subsidising marginal routes that we have serviced for the past 20 years.”
Did REX actually think Qantas was going to sit back while they slid into their territory? I'd have hoped that the board of REX actually considered this was a possibility and had contingency for such a thing. It's good governance.
I am sure this has nooothing to do with Regional Express' price gouging on routes they once held a monopoly on. Who wants to pay $400.00 for a one-way ticket to nowhere?