Regional Express (REX) has retained all eight of its New South Wales intrastate routes, which it now has a renewed licence to operate through to March 2018.
Despite the positive outcome, REX general manager of network and strategy Warrick Lodge said: “Whilst Rex is the biggest beneficiary of the NSW licensed route regime, we have called on the NSW Government, just as we have done five years ago when the licences were last awarded, to discontinue this route licence regime as we believe that such a scheme distorts free competition without achieving any practical outcomes.”
The routes link Bathurst, Broken Hill, Grafton, Merimbula, Moruya, Narrandera, Parkes and Taree to Sydney. The airline operates around 1,300 flights each week.