Size and scale

The many modern but smaller regional aircraft have higher seat mile costs while carrying significantly fewer passenger numbers than the big jets. However, they must offer the same safety, maintenance and operational standards as the larger airliners – costs that have to be amortised over a smaller passenger base. Running a professional regional air service, whether it be RPT, fly-in/fly-out, charter, medevac or freight, is a very expensive exercise. In short, regional routes cannot use LCC pricing structures because the carriers would go broke and there would be few, if any, services to regional and remote Australia.

In addition, regional carriers will eventually need to replace some parts of their fleet. The upfront capital or lease costs are often very high and new aircraft decisions are made after very careful analysis. The upside is that the public continues to enjoy modern aircraft when travelling to the regions, but the ticket price must reflect the very different economics of regional versus tourist/trunk route travel.

The upside is that the regional operators very much pride themselves on their on time, personalised and professional service. Regional passengers often become well known to airline staff and are treated as valued individuals. Many regional operators offer full service so that passengers are not trying to find their wallets at 20,000ft.

Preposterous suggestions from some overseas LCCs that passengers may have to pay to use toilets will never be part of the high quality regional model.

At the RAAA Convention, more and more discussions turned to offering regional passengers a safe and enjoyable, even exciting travel experience, not a ‘bus with wings’ trip. The flight should be an experience to which people look forward.

By comparison, when passing a LCC gate lounge recently at a major airport, it was obvious that a major feast had taken place before passengers boarded.

The lounge looked like a rubbish tip with takeaway packaging strewn liberally across the floor. This is the obvious result of cutting food and beverage services to the bone on the flight. There is an obvious market for LCC travel, but it is not a model that regional aviation can or wishes to embrace.

In addition, there was plenty of discussion on how regional routes can be re-established.

There is a growing sense that regional route numbers have shrunk low enough.

Many towns that previously enjoyed RPT or charter are re-contacting regional carriers to investigate what is possible.

In this century, air travel will be as essential as road and rail, particularly over Australia’s vast distances. Councils are again becoming air minded. Some of this interest is driven by the resources boom, but many have realised that air travel offers considerable advantages over other transport modes.

Airfreight is also becoming increasingly common and necessary in regional areas, offering towns the ability to have that vital part delivered the same day or by the next at the latest. This is a niche area that is growing as new industries see the advantages of relocating to regional centres.

In the last century aviation opened up Australia so that citizens and essential goods and services could move easily between the coast and the interior. The resources industry, the attendant new towns and established regional centres will continue to demand high quality regional air services.

There is a real energy to reestablish the regional routes and develop new ones.

Regional aviation appears to be entering an interesting, positive phase that will hopefully return a good percentage of the lost air routes to the bush. n Australian Aviation is proud to be the official supporting journal of the Regional Aviation Association of Australia. The views in this column are those of the RAAA, and not necessarily Australian Aviation’s.