Regional Express (Rex) is exiting the Albury (ABX) - Melbourne (MEL) route at the end of May after 39 years. The airline blames Qantas for dumping capacity onto the route as part of a sustained campaign to force the smaller airline out. Announcing their exit on Thursday morning, a top Rex executive fired up against Qantas and gave them a verbal bollocking. But Qantas says Rex is just looking for someone to blame.

"This route is the casualty of Qantas' illegal predatory behavior to drive out competition in a war of attrition, knowing that its competitors do not have the balance sheet to lose money indefinitely," said Rex's Deputy Chairman, John Sharp.

QantasLink Rex Aircraft At Albury Airport
QantasLink and Rex aircraft on the apron at Albury Airport. Photo: Albury City Council

Rex did well to survive for so long on the Melbourne - Albury route

Albury is 300 kilometers north of Melbourne on the New South Wales - Victorian border. An excellent motorway gets you down to the Victorian capital in three hours, and around half a dozen rail services operate in each direction every day - although the caliber of those rail services leaves much to be desired. Nonetheless, given Melbourne's proximity and alternative transport options, it is remarkable Rex (and their predecessor airline Kendall) carved out enough business to sustain flights for nearly four decades.

Rex enjoyed sole operator status on the ABX - MEL route for most of that time. But recently, as we've extensively canvassed in Simple Flying, Qantas, via its regional subsidiary QantasLink, has expanded onto several routes Rex previously had sole operator status on, including this route. It's fair to say the QF expansion strategy has left Rex very unimpressed.

Qantas told Simple Flying Rex's standard approach whenever it quits a route is to blame Qantas. Australia's biggest airline says they don't start on routes unless they believe it will be commercially viable and that applies to the Albury-Melbourne flights.

"Rex’s idea of competition is that it’s something that happens to others because they believe they have an enshrined right to be the only carrier on some regional routes," a Qantas spokesperson said. "We are committed to the route which has been performing well, particularly with the Albury community who are connecting on to our domestic and international network from Melbourne."

Rex-Regional-Express-Saab-340-Adelaide-Airport
Rex flies their Saab 340s between Melbourne and Albury. Photo: Andrew Curran/Simple Flying

"Pre-COVID, 22,000 passengers a year flew between Albury and Melbourne, hardly enough passengers for one carrier, let alone two. Qantas then entered the route – one of nine Rex regional routes targeted by Qantas during the COVID pandemic – dumping an additional 31,000 seats annually into the market," said John Sharp.

But Qantas says Rex operates more than 40% more seats between Melbourne and Albury than Qantas, with the Qantas spokesperson saying they are hardly flooding the market. QantasLink currently flies a daily Dash 8 300 service in both directions on the ABX - MEL city pair.

Frank Zaknich, AlburyCity CEO, says REX has been a valued and loyal partner of Albury City, adding, "We are disappointed by the news this morning that REX will be ceasing flights between Albury and Melbourne, but we appreciate and understand the commercial realities of their decision."

QantasLink Q300
QantasLink flies a daily Dash 8 300 between Albury and Melbourne. Photo: Andrew Curran/Simple Flying

Qantas boosts its presence in Albury

Until May 29, Rex will continue to send their 34-seat Saab 340s between Albury and Melbourne twice each weekday in either direction and once a day on weekends. Rex will continue to fly between Sydney (SYD) and Albury, a route it also shares with QantasLink. Both airlines have had a long-term presence on this route. QantasLink has stepped up its presence in Albury in the last two years. In addition to adding the MEL - ABX route, the Qantas subsidiary also flies the Brisbane (BNE) - ABX route and is about to trial seasonal Adelaide (ADL) - ABX flights.

"It is with a heavy heart that we have to exit this route after servicing it faithfully for the last 39 years," says Mr Sharp. "Rex has no choice but to look after itself. Sadly for the community, we will soon see Qantas providing only a token service once it sees that it has achieved its objectives."