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Australia’s biggest airline Qantas is being accused of punishing smaller rival Regional Express (Rex). Rex’s Deputy Chairman John Sharp made the claim on a Sunday morning interview on Sky News.
Rex Deputy Chairman John Sharp says Qantas is punishing his airline. Photo: Getty Images
Ongoing route skirmishes between Qantas and Rex
Both Qantas and Rex have moved onto several of each other’s routes in the last year. But Rex accuses the far larger Qantas of capacity dumping on select regional routes, knowing they will lose money, but driven by a desire to push Rex off those routes.
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Regional Express is poised to break Qantas’ current monopoly on the Sydney-Canberra route with the launch of its own flights to the capital city starting 19 April.
The ambitious plan will match Qantas busy schedule with seven return Rex flights each day; fares will go on sale later this week from AUD99 one-way.
Rex is expected to begin Sydney-Canberra flights using its workhorse 33-seat all-economy Saab 340B turboprops, but with the scope to swap in the larger Boeing 737 jets – with eight seats in business class and 168 in economy – during the morning and afternoon peak hours according to demand.
This is the same approach adopted by Qantas, which flies a mix of Boeing 717 jets and Dash 8 turboprops.