The constitution gives the federal government exclusive responsibility for interstate trade. Intrastate trade (exclusively within a state, things like intrastate air routes) are regulated by the state.

Thanks Skystar 320 and dijical for the info. Makes more sense now.

And the primary point of the intra-state licensing systems is to increase the likelihood of a service being financially viable (through the route being a monopoly).

This is a kick in the guts for all the crew at Skippers.

The Dash & Braz are great aircraft for these routes (Apu’s in summer, can carry decent loads when required)

It was a shame that Rex won the southern routes initially. I’m not really sure why the WA government would be so keen to have an interstate operator start up at the expense of an established WA company.

Can I please ask what Skippers political donations was for the last 5 years, let me guess it was less than Rex's.


A very foolish move in a non corrupt country.

Stay on top of your G/Name

DID THEY EVEN TENDER?

These airlines tender for a route on a 5 year contract etc when the 5 yrs is up any airline can tender for it or pull the plug on it just like VARA pulled the plug on Albany and w few other routes deciding it was better to pull out & sell the F50's than to continue making a loss on those routes, Rex picked up those routes with the 340

According to the Skippers website:

"Carnarvon is 904km North of Perth and is a 1 hour and 50 minute flight with Skippers aviation from Perth"

Just in regards to that APU thing. I recently did the mail run from Brisbane out to a far Western QLD port on the Rex SAAB. Fearing how hot it'd be given no APU (40+ degree days), I was pleasantly surprised at how cool they managed to keep it on the turnarounds when they shut down (some single engine turnarounds where possible). Air conditioning carts were plugged in when able and the crew made sure all blinds were closed to keep the direct sunlight out during a turnaround. So don't fear the whole no APU thing!

morno

If skippy wasn’t such a shoddily run organisation they might have put up a winning tender. REX have come in and provided a service on Albany and Esperance that VARA couldn’t, so they obviously put up a compelling offer. Government should take what is best for those communities in providing a reliable and viable service with consumer interests at the fore, not just giving it to the local operator. I would be surprised if skippy didn’t put an offer in, with their recent loss of contract work they need all the flying they can get.

F50s used to do PER-CVQ in two hours but I assume the F50 had similar speeds to the Dash 8s 100/300?? I also assume the Saabs may be slightly quicker then the F50s and Dash 8 100/300??

In the past the tender process split the destinations into coastal and goldfields, both winning tenders had to take less desirable routes in order to get the 'profitable' ones to ensure service remained to those towns that otherwise wouldn't get an RPT flight.

Getting Monkey Mia and supporting Kalbarri comes to mind, Skywest did it with the F50 before VARA. I think at one point Skippy did it too in a pair with Geraldton/Kalbarri.

Section 92 of the Commonwealth Constitution is the answer. It's been challenged to death over the past 110 plus years in the High Court and the Privy Council.

Do people think that there is still a need for the F50s to operate in WA? In the future would Rex possibly use F50s on the Carnarvon and Monkey Mia routes?

Reality is both will barely support a Saab or a Dash 8.

Why is that? Dash 8/F50 not economically viable?

Monkey Mia has a very small population, possibly lucky to be 200 people. It is a tourist destination due to the dolphins.


Carnarvon for many years had a sign stating the population was 6,700 (its post code is 6701) but I see in the 2016 census it has reduced to 4,426.

Flights seem a bit cheaper these days but Peth to either Monkey Mia or Carnarvon will still be around $500 return (some days more some less). The flight between Monkey Mia and Carnarvon is a bit over $100.


There is not a large fixed population to support large aircraft on these routes. Due to the vast distance between towns in WA particularly north of Geraldton and the high costs of all flights very few tourists use air travel as a mode of transport. Most tourist that come to this region use campervan or caravans as there are many places to see along the way that have no air services.

Many residents of Carnarvon simply drive to Geraldton to buy any goods they can not find in Carnarvon often things like white goods and then they drive them back and use them that day not 2 weeks later. After Carnarvon living Perth is too busy and big for many and only visited to fly out some place else like Bali for a vacation.

I think you would find Carnarvon - Darwin, would be get similar if not better traffic than Perth. The reason is Carnarvon has a high migrant population and heading towards Singapore rather than away from it is appealing.

We already knew this but its been confirmed..


https://thewest.com.au/business/aviation/rex-expands-wa-reach-with-carnarvon-monkey-mia-routes-ng-b88759279z

Bit hard to expand with not enough crew!

Cadet motivation letters. That’ll fix it.