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Regional carrier Sharp Airlines has taken a swipe at Rex even as it calls on the federal government to support its beleaguered rival.
In a press release, Sharp, which operates 23 Metroliner turboprop aircraft servicing five states, said the government should offer support to Rex, but “only on routes that Rex is the sole operator”.
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Sharp Airlines has a history of conflict with Rex, accusing the larger airline in 2020 of uncompetitively muscling in on a route between Wynyard and King Island in Tasmania.
The airline on Tuesday accused Rex of “aggressive fare pricing and tactics” against smaller operators like itself, noting that “this type of behaviour has obviously been unsustainable for Rex”.
“During COVID Rex was a major beneficiary of the $100m Regional Airlines Funding Assistance (‘last resort’ funding), following which it then entered the East Coast domestic market with its Boeing 737 operation,” the airline said.
“We understand it’s like ‘shooting Bambi’ but the Government also needs to understand that we operate in a free economy and to prop up one operator at the expense of another creates an unlevel playing field and is simply bad economics.
“To be clear Sharp Airlines is not asking for assistance as we have a well-established and successful business, but we are just asking the Albanese Government for a fair go.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said Rex is an “important regional airline” amid suggestions that the federal government might step in to offer help.
“What we will do, though, is examine any proposals. Rex receives substantial government support with no conditions attached,” he said.
“One of the things that I expressed concern about was having no conditions so that Rex, for example, moved away from their traditional role of being a regional airline into flights – for example – from Sydney to Melbourne.
“Rex, as a regional airline, of course, provides important links with regional communities – and particularly between capital cities and regional communities – it is important for those local economies. So we want to see the aviation industry in Australia continue to be one that provides those services and that access.”
Rex appeared on Tuesday afternoon to have pulled 737-800 domestic services from its website, with rumours the airline will be placed into administration.
