Upsizing

Qantas’s recent order for seven additional Bombardier Q400s – to take its fleet of the type to 28 – and the continued health and profitability of Regional Express seemingly point to a regional aviation sector in good condition. This is an industry that has survived the worst of the GFC inspired downturn relatively well and poised for further growth – the collapse of MacAir aside.

But the dominance of QantasLink and Rex – at least along the east coast – serves to highlight the issue that airlines, and indeed the airports they operate into, need scale to be profitable, and for airlines that scale comes from larger fleets of larger aircraft serving larger towns and cities. The consolidation trend in regional aviation has been evident for many years – in essence fewer, larger operators serving fewer, larger ports. That has meant the disappearance of nine and 12-seater aircraft from airline service, and a declining fleet of 19-seaters on RPT duties.