Domestic airline Regional Express has announced it will increase fares across all of its domestic and regional networks due to "spiralling" fuel costs.
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The airline, which operates direct flights from Wagga to Sydney and Melbourne, announced that tickets will increase at least $10 from tomorrow, with bigger increases expected in "the lower-priced promotional" category of fares".
Rex's general manager of network strategy Warrick Lodge cited rising fuel costs and other inflationary pressures as the catalyst for the price hike.
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"This will be the first time Rex has increased fares in more than three years," Mr Lodge said.
"With fuel prices shooting up by over 30 per cent in recent weeks and with supply chains being severely disrupted, the existing ticket prices are no longer tenable."
Wagga fares will increase by $10 across the fare range, but there will be no increase to the current 'community fare' levels. These will remain at $139 for both Wagga to Sydney and Wagga to Melbourne, according to the airline.
Wagga aviation professional Rod Cecchini said that Rex had no choice but to raise prices after a COVID-disrupted two years, and that $10 per ticket is a reasonable increase.
"We just came through [the] oronavirus period and lost a lot of money," he said. "Melbourne Airport, Sydney, Brisbane, in particular ... I understood were getting 5 to 10 per cent of their overall revenue at the airport.
"They're still not even close to getting back to 50 per cent, and the airlines are the same thing. Whilst they want to get bums on seats, they still need to make costs.
"To say that Rex has put up their price by $10 on a $250 ticket ... I'd suggest it seems a reasonable reaction to the short to mid-term problem with fuel costs."
Mr Cecchini is the director of Oz Airports, which provides safety expertise and support to airline projects, and he said that in the short term additional costs will be felt by travellers, but in the longer term, as more people start to fly again, he expects prices will be forced down and the sector will return to normal.
"Things will return back to what it always was, and I think that there will be a big push of people who haven't been overseas fairly soon .. but it will probably still take 12 months before [airlines] hit their straps again," he said.
Business NSW Murray-Riverina regional manager Anthony McFarlane is worried that the increase could have knock-on effects for the local economy.
"I think the price increase in airfares is something that will hit discretionary spending, especially for those visiting the region," he said.
"In a climate of rising prices across the board these increases could have a dampening effect on the economy long-term."
Mr McFarlane said next week's federal budget will be key to addressing these issues, if the government takes measures to address cost of living and the broader visitor economy.
A recent parliamentary report, released by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, recommended the government provide targeted assistance to the aviation industry as it rebounds from the pandemic.
The report found the pandemic exacerbated issues already prevalent in the aviation sector, such as workforce retention. But the committee also heard that airlines made drastic cuts to staffing, while worker skills and accreditation lapsed and many left the industry as a result of the pandemic.
In January this year about 65,000 people were employed in the sector compared to more than 90,000 before the pandemic.
That is despite the federal government providing more than $5.3 billion in assistance measures for the industry during the shutdowns caused by COVID-19.
Rex airlines was formed in 2002 and it currently flies to 62 destinations across Australia, and has two pilot academies in Wagga and Ballarat.
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