Senate Economics Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 3:31:52 to 3:38:26
Examination of airline pricing on regional routes, specifically Mount Isa, and concerns regarding dynamic pricing.
Topics: Tourism, Infrastructure
Speakers: Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Senator Susan McDonald, Unknown Speaker
>> So we are we currently have underway an airline pricing review. >> Uh the review looks at the major metropolitan routes and a selection of
Can I ask if Mount Isa is on the regional route both from Townsville and
>> So it is not consistently. However, we are able to access that information.
specifically, how is it possible that airlines, Big Red Kangaroo airline, would be able to advertise a price that would involve two legs. So when you Google when you search the two legs, it is 25% higher than going in and googling the and and searching the the legs individually. Is that a reasonable thing for an airline to do?
the I it it is important to understand the particular features structurally that are occurring in relation to remote roots. Yeah, >> I so I'll start broadly and then come specifically so we can see and it would indeed be for you Senator I expect you're traveling on a number of these routes you would know that there's much less competition than travelers uh are facing uh even so Mount Tiser is a remote route even for regional but also major city routes. So our latest report showed that 72% of remote routes were serviced by only one airline >> uh in July 2026 compared to only 13% on major city routes that were serviced by only one airline. And also that real average revenue per passenger on remote routes had increased by 3.6% 6% in the year to July 2026 while it declined on major city routes down 4% and regional routes also down 1.5%. So just to move specifically to the question of Melbourne to Brisbane and Brisbane to Mount Eiser uh looked at separately Melbourne to Brisbane is served by two groups because it's Quantis and Jet Star in the Quantis group but and Virgin so you have three airlines though from two groups with frequent services substantial passenger volumes and that supports a wider range of fairs. Brisbane to Mount Eiser has only two Quantis and Virgin. Virgin is also only doing three return services per week. Uh and unfortunately the Bonsza flight between Mount Aiza and Gold Coast no longer uh continues. Uh we also see that business travel uh is uh a substantial proportion of travel to and from Mount Eiser and you can see some differentiation in charging by airlines when they know that many passengers are FIFO passengers. So there are some features of the nature of the passengers in terms of the way in which uh pricing is being undertaken. It it would not surprise us because there's more competition from Melbourne to Brisbane than Brisbane to Mount Eiza that you're you're going to see a differential and given the higher rates that there are for remote uh routes. It uh would be of interest or concern to us if actually there was confusion through to misleading >> CLA uh price disclosures depending upon whether you uh searched for this the legs separately as compared to one trip which involved the two legs. that that would be of concern.
>> I will provide you with some specifics on that one. Um, I don't want to hold up the committee because this is a very specific issue, >> but between it being regularly $1,200 economy to fly from Brisbane to Mount on a jet and you cannot get um it's very hard to get the local pricing stuff that's advertised because there's very strict rules about booking from that place away and back. And you know that's not usually how life works. But I think it is outrageous and the dynamic pricing which drives up the price fast again is unconscionable. And I know that we have examined airfare flights many times. But for people who want to live in parts of the country that do important work and to be frankly gouged because there's a large FIFO or company um uh clientele I think is extraordinary and I think everything we can to shine a light on appalling behavior particularly of Quantis. I I am I am you know I I see people driving that distance 24 hours to drive from Brisbane to Mount Eisa about 12 hours to drive from Brisbane to Townsville because they cannot afford to get on one of these outrageous flights and it's dangerous. The roads are dangerous. it's but you know so anyway I you know and and that won't be the only route but I I think that we we've talked about this several times I I don't know what we can do as a parliament to discourage this outrageous dynamic pricing and price gouging and I I don't know what more to do on that u finally because uh we have to move on I just