Regional Express (Rex) is predicting cheaper community fares to new West Australian destinations Carnarvon and World Heritage-listed Shark Bay will drive significant growth on the services.
The WA Government earlier this year gave Australia’s biggest independent regional carrier the sole right to operate regular public transport services on the route between Perth and Carnarvon and Monkey Mia from July 2.
Monkey Mia is famous for its wild dolphin experience allowing tourists to get close to the mammals in their natural habitat.
Regional Express announced Tuesday it had entered into five-year partnership arrangements with the Carnarvon Shire Council and RAC, the owners of Carnarvon and Shark Bay airports, to provide the Rex Community Fare Scheme until mid-2023.
The scheme will see the airline offer one-way flights of $199 to Carnarvon and $157 to Monkey Mia on 25 percent of seats booked 60 days prior to departure and to all remaining seats booked 24 hours before the trip.
Qantas and Rex introduced community discounts after a WA parliamentary inquiry into the cost of regional airfares in Australia’s biggest state was too high.
READ: Australia’s Rex sees blue skies after profit jump.
“Following the successful introduction of the Community Fare scheme in Albany and Esperance in WA; Broken Hill, Moruya, Parkes and Orange in NSW, Burnie in Tasmania, and Mt Isa in Queensland, Rex is confident that both Carnarvon and Monkey Mia will reap the same significant benefits that these eight other regional communities have enjoyed and embraced,”
“The Rex Community Fare scheme between Carnarvon / Monkey Mia and Perth is only made possible through a collaborative partnership approach and Rex expects the Community Fare to drive significant passenger growth to the mutual benefit of the local communities and the airline.”
Starting on July 2, Rex will operate 24 weekly services between Perth and Carnarvon and 12 weekly services between Perth and tourism destination Monkey Mia.
The airline this represented a 20 percent increase in flight frequency for Carnarvon and a 50 percent increase in flight frequency for Monkey Mia compared to the current flight frequency.
The increases will mean a consistent Monday to Friday flight schedule for Carnarvon with morning and afternoon return services as well as a Sunday to Friday schedule for Monkey Mia.
Rex flies more than 50 Saab 340 aircraft on some 1,500 weekly flights to 60 destinations across Australia.
