Low cost airline fares set to rise

Discount ticket prices between Perth and Albany will rise by $10 after the region’s only commercial airline warned demand for low-cost fares was hitting profits.

Regional Express received unanimous council approval on Tuesday night to bump its one-way Community Fare tickets from $129 to $139, which could increase profits on the route by about $160,000 a year.

Since mid-2017, Rex has been contracted with the City to provide discount fares for flights booked two months or 24 hours before take-off, in a bid to improve tourism.

However, since then, passenger numbers have grown 11 per cent, with about a quarter of sales being low-cost tickets — something Rex claimed was hurting the service’s sustainability.

While there was concern online about the ticket cost increase, Cr Greg Stocks said it was more important to assure the City’s healthy relationship with the airline.

“We started with Rex around 54,000 passenger movements, now it’s at 60,000,” he said.

“If we want that airline to grow, we need to be supporting it.