Tamworth traveller Tony Warden is a frequent flyer so he’s more than interested in the pricing of seats and the services provided by airlines. In this opinion piece, he’s also provided some graphic images of ticketing to back his arguments.
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THE flying public to and from Sydney and Tamworth appear to be overcharged, mainly due to the monopoly held by Qantas.
While it is no problem to big business, it is to the average person.
I have often heard people say they have paid about $1000 for a return flight on the route and they were not happy. However, it was not something that I had worried or thought about until it happened to me.
I was looking to add a companion to a flight on a recent weekend, only to find the return flight cost for Sydney to Tamworth is $802 for the two 192-mile legs, or $2.088/mile.
As a comparison, I did checks of different routes operated by Qantas that have some competition.
Sydney to Armidale is $384 return for the two 233-mile legs, or $0.824/mile.
Sydney to Brisbane is $338 return for the two 453-mile legs, or $0.373/mile.
Now if that doesn’t blow you away, why not have a look at an overseas trip for the weekend, such as Air Asia X for a trip from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur for the weekend.
The promo economy fare is $702 return for the two 4108-mile legs, or $0.085/mile.
The top economy premium flexible fare is $830 return, or $0.101/mile.
I have just been to Thailand and experienced the difference in air service provided in a country which is bordering on third world, and I must say it leaves our regional air services for dead.
One can walk into the terminal and buy a ticket 60 minutes prior to departure at a similar price to the days prior. An example is Bangkok to Khon Kaen, which is about $84.48 return for the two 241-mile legs on the promotional fare, or $0.175/mile – or, for premium flexible, it’s $213.79, or $0.443/mile. I have flown this route a number of times on a low-cost carrier (Thai Air Asia) and the service on the premium flexible fare is superior to what we receive from our full-service carrier.
The Khon Kaen Airport has one carousel, but handles three B373 and/or A320 aircraft within a period of an hour. The low-cost carriers also manage their aircraft without the use of any towing.
We also should not lose sight of the fact that, back in the late ’80s and early ’90s in Tamworth, we had a BAE-146 four-engine jet on the route and the trip took less than 30 minutes. We also had two or three airlines to choose from. Again, having a monopoly has led to a lack of service.
While Tamworth’s airport is capable of landing a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320, pundits say the terminal is not capable of handling them.
Yes, one would still have to walk out on the tarmac and use stairs to enter the aircraft.
That is no different to what happens now, apart from a few extra steps.
Sure the baggage handling and carousel is too small and would need to be replaced, but didn’t the council and state government just give Qantas the money for a new hanger, rather than doing this work?
My guess is that a fair and reasonable price for the Sydney to Tamworth return trip should be in the order of $0.82/mile, or $316. There appears to be an overcharge of about $500 per trip!
Why were people so against paying Rex $8 for security screening to get some sort of competition and a possible cost saving of about $500?
Was it the fear of losing an air service altogether?
Why would we have this fear, when Tamworth has more than 150,000 passenger movements per year and ranks in the top 40 airports for passenger movements in Australia?
Why doesn’t Qantas utilise a B717, to give some more capacity at peak times and to keep the fares more realistic for tourists?
Why doesn’t Tourism Tamworth approach John Borghetti at Virgin Australia to run an ATR72 to service the route and get some sort of competition at festival time?
Both of these aircraft should be suitable on the route without the necessity to do any modifications to the terminal.
