Call for Qantas to have domestic rights

Western Australian Transport Minister Pam Beggs today called for Qantas to be given immediate domestic rights on flights to and from Perth.

The call follows a WA Tourism Commission study that shows average weekly seating capacity on jets flying into Perth have dropped around 35 per cent since the grounding of Compass last Christmas.

This compared with an overall drop of only 19 per cent in passenger traffic on Australia's 10 top trunk routes.

"We virtually are back to pre-deregulation levels," Mrs Beggs said.

"But the Commonwealth has the ability to act now to enable Qantas to service domestic routes and to begin building a common user terminal at Perth Airport."

Mrs Beggs said the Tourism Commission's study revealed that in November 1991, there were about 23,000 seats available on flights to Perth. In February, the number had dropped to about 15,000 seats.

The biggest fall had been in passenger traffic to Perth from Melbourne and Adelaide.

"Last November, domestic airlines were carrying about 32,000 people a week between Perth and Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide," Mrs Beggs said.

"In February and March, the level was down to 26,000 people.

"As well, in recent weeks domestic seat load factors into and out of Perth have averaged more than 86 per cent which is about 10 points higher than the national average.

"This indicates there is a strong demand for seats which is not matched by corresponding increases in capacity.

"Western Australia's fall in capacity is substantial and indicates the urgent need for the Commonwealth to speed up its airlines' reform process."

Mrs Beggs said it was clear from the study the main two domestic carriers could not provide the capacity and offer low-price fares to stimulate the leisure market to Western Australia.

"Certainly, Western Australia benefited more than most States from the first year of deregulation and the introduction of a third major carrier," she said.

"But it also is true that Western Australia has been put at the biggest disadvantage by the return to a two-airline system.

"The State Government's WA Advantage document clearly identified tourism as one of the economic front-runners and yet its development is being hampered because of the apparent lack of competition on the interstate jet network."

Mrs Beggs said that in the first year of deregulation in which Compass flew, Western Australia had gained an additional 126,000 visitors who spent $65 million while in the State.