Mr Elliott, who has coordinated events in Winton, said expensive rural flights deterred both residents and potential tourists, adding that chartering an 80-seat jet could sometimes be cheaper than booking commercial flights. Qantas is the sole airline on the Longreach-Brisbane route.
The Queensland government already subsidises seven of more than 40 regional routes, covering 23 towns where demand is considered too low to be commercially viable. Maximum fares are capped on those regulated routes, with contracts held by Rex and Qantas reviewed every five years. The Department of Transport and Main Roads has delayed its decision by 12 months, saying it needs to 'consider all the feedback' from 37 consultation sessions.
A separate Australian Productivity Commission inquiry into the cost of regional airfares is under way, with a draft report due in November.
In its submission to the commission, Qantas said it used Dash 8-400 planes on smaller regional routes because they had lower maintenance and operating costs than the even smaller Q200 and Q300 aircraft. However, the carrier argued these services were not as profitable due to economy of scale.
'On average, these services are more than twice as expensive to operate than Qantas 737s and about three times more expensive than Jetstar and Qantas international services on a per-passenger basis,' the submission stated.
Mr Elliott said 'corporate Australia' was treating people in the bush 'with a lack of respect' and called on Qantas to prove that remote flights cost as much as the airline claims. 'I just don't think Qantas are being fair dinkum at the moment,' he said.