Regional Express (Rex) has today unveiled a one-way $39 fare between Sydney and Melbourne (Tullamarine), which the airline claims is the lowest fare the two capital cities have ever seen for full-service flights.
Let the Australian domestic airfare war officially begin.
Rex says its “unprecedented” new fare is even cheaper than the cost of catching a bus between the two capital cities and is valid for travel until 28 August.
What’s more, the cheap as chips $39 fare between Sydney and Melbourne includes 23kg worth of check-in baggage and refreshments on board.
Business class seats between Sydney and Melbourne will also be available one-way from $299.
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The Hon John Sharp, AM, Deputy Chairman of Rex, says the airline’s “cheaper than the bus” fares will see airfares between the two cities even lower than the Federal Government-sponsored Tourism Aviation Network Support program (TANS) fare and will jump-start leisure and business travel.
“I believe this initiative will singlehandedly revive a moribund travel and hospitality industry in the two cities. The resulting copycat moves from our competitors will mean that there will be hundreds of thousands of $39 fares available,” He said.
He said stakeholders in Melbourne and Sydney have provided extraordinary support to Rex when it launched its services and the airline hopes that its initiative will be able to return the favour.
“Since our entry into the domestic market, the cosy duopoly has been completely disrupted and the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) has noted a significant reduction in average airfares in all the domestic routes that Rex covers,” he said.
The fighting talk continues with the Hon John Sharp stating “This is why Rex is good for Australia and why Australia needs Rex. For the first time ever Australians can have premium reliable domestic air services at honest prices delivered with our trademark country hospitality. Our honest prices also include our honest practices.”
In the airline’s media release, Rex wanted to remind its customers that it is the only major airline that has fully refunded all flights disrupted by COVID without resorting to “disingenuous delaying tactics”.
Further, Rex says is the only airline in Australia that offers a COVID Refund policy for new bookings, which guarantees full refunds for any passenger affected by COVID-related cancellations, re-scheduling, border closures and travel restrictions.
The press release states “all the other major airlines simply do not have the cash to refund all the tickets that are entitled to a refund. Qantas for example has over $5 billion worth of tickets on their books, most of which are due for a refund and its unencumbered cash is a tiny fraction of that.”
Qantas had previously responded to what it said were Rex’s ‘false’ claims, with Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce saying in an open letter to the Australian Financial Review on Thursday 22 April 2021:
“The frequency with which Rex makes baseless criticisms of Qantas points to it being a key part of their strategy. That strategy is driven by John Sharp, who left politics under a cloud and has shown an approach to corporate communications that seems to confuse it for parliamentary privilege.
“There are now so many ridiculous claims from Mr Sharp and Rex, we have started a new page on our website to debunk them.”
You can read the full letter from Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce here.