WESTERN AUSTRALIA should have its own regional airline run by the State government.
That is one of the suggestions by former WA MP Paul Brown who said the current operators were providing a sub-standard service to regional Western Australia, despite being thrown several lifelines by the Federal government.
Mr Brown took aim at Virgin Australia airlines after his family's flight from Port Hedland to Perth was cancelled five days ahead of schedule last week.
After calling the airline several times the following day, only to receive a recorded voice message, the family was provided with only two other flight options on a Tuesday or a Thursday, after they got in touch with the airline two days later.
"We needed to get our kids back to school on time after the school holidays and for my wife to be able to fulfil her work commitments, but flight cancellations like this are just too regular an occurrence for regional Western Australians," Mr Brown said.
Virgin advised that the flight was cancelled due to a schedule change.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic there has been more than $1 billion of Federal government support for Australia's aviation industry.
Following the outbreak the government launched the Domestic Aviation Network Support Program in April to fund a minimum domestic network of Virgin Australia and Qantas flights to the nation's capital cities and 36 larger regional centres.
In early June it was announced that the initial eight week package, which was slated to cost about $165 million, would be extended to September 30.
Through the program the Federal government continues to subsidise two flights a week to regional centres for both airlines, however they are not required to provide any additional regional flights and it is at the airlines' discretion to change their schedules to respond to demand and operational requirements.
"Qantas and Virgin are going to continue to harvest funds from the Federal government agreement to subsidise two regional flights a week, but if the other regional flights don't meet their profitability expectations or passenger numbers they simply cancel them and people are left stranded," Mr Brown said.
"It's a slap in the face for regional Western Australians.
"Neither the State or Federal government are holding these airline companies to account."
With Australia's airlines operating in a deregulated environment, Mr Brown said it was time the State and Federal governments "stepped in" to address the lack of and frequent cancellation of regional flights.
"The State government is quite happy to subsidise trains, ferries and buses in Perth to the tune of a billion dollars a year through Transperth, but when it comes to regional WA, there's just no care," Mr Brown said.
"Air travel is our public transport for regional areas, unless you want to sit in a car for two days to get to northern WA and all the risks associated with those sort of trips.
"I think it's time the State government looks at re-regulating our air routes and initiating its own airline, where no profit would be required to be returned to shareholders."
While a small number of recommendations from a 2018 parliamentary inquiry into the operation, regulation and funding of air route service delivery to rural, regional and remote communities have since been agreed to by the Federal government, Mr Brown said virtually none of the inquiry's serious recommendations had been implemented.
Outcomes from the national inquiry, which included an investigation into the social and economic impacts of air route supply and airfare pricing, were released in June last year and its first recommendation was that "the Australian Government direct the Productivity Commission to undertake a standalone, public inquiry into the determinants of domestic airfares on routes to and between regional centres in Australia".
The recommendation further stated that the inquiry should, via a detailed economic analysis, investigate the feasibility of increasing operational subsidies and introducing other price control alternatives to address the high cost of regional airfares.
"The inquiry should consult with regional communities to determine whether additional routes should be subject to regulation," the first recommendation concluded.
The Nationals WA leader Mia Davies agreed that the current regulatory model wasn't working.
"Particularly in the post-COVID-19 rebuild, we need a better plan to put air travel within reach of more families, businesses and tourists," Ms Davies said.
"Regional Western Australians weren't getting a fair deal with airfares well before the arrival of the COVID-19 crisis.
"Regional airfares need to be both more affordable and more regular in frequency - air travel is the mode of transport we use to access health treatment, to work and for social connectivity with family and friends.
"Some progress has been made to create more affordable community fares in selected communities, but there needs to be a comprehensive 'whole-of-State' plan to create a more affordable network servicing regional WA."
A State government spokesperson told Farm Weekly that is was continuing to work with airlines to ensure increased availability and capacity of flights throughout regional WA, and to encourage affordable airfares for residents and tourists through access to discount fares.
"We have already had some success with Rex adding additional flights on the Albany and Carnarvon route and with Virgin adding additional cheaper fares from Perth to Broome and Kununurra," the spokesperson said.
"The State government is doing everything possible to help the aviation sector to recover - including working with airlines, communities, airports, tourism operators, government agencies and the Commonwealth, to re-establish air services beyond the minimum service levels of recent months and to facilitate greater long-term viability of services."
Earlier this week the State government and Virgin Australia announced it had partnered to deliver cheaper fares and provide more flights from Perth to Broome and Kununurra.
The Perth to Broome route will return to a daily service (from three per week), while Perth to Kununurra flights will be increased from two to three per week.
The partnership includes 8000 discounted tickets in which passengers will be able to fly to Broome $199 one-way and Kununurra $229 one way from August 3 to October 31.
The discounted fares support the State government's Wander Out Yonder tourism campaign which encourages Western Australians to explore their own State and invest in our regional economies.
This follows on from a State and Commonwealth government announcement in June that they would underwrite additional services and the expansion of community fares for Rex airlines Albany, Esperance and Carnarvon routes.
