Regional Express will be able to keep a service to and from Griffith in the air after the federal government announced a package aimed at keeping regional airlines alive.
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The federal government announced on Saturday two funds aimed at keeping regional airlines in the skies - with $198 million earmarked for maintaining the current aviation network of public flights at a reduced capacity, and $100 million aimed to underwrite some regional airlines - with the assistance due to be done on a month-by-month basis until September 30.
Rex had previously planned to shutter all their passenger services from April 6 except for those running in Queensland as the company moved to stem losses coming from a heavily reduced number of passengers using the service.
The airline had appealed to all three levels of government for assistance in keeping flights to the city running and indicated to The Area News on March 25 that while Griffith City Council's move to waive all airport landing charges was 'appreciated' by the airline, all three government levels had to provide help to keep the service running.
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Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said the assistance package from the federal government should allow the airline to sustain a heavily reduced schedule for "at least six months" even if passenger demand drops by 95 per cent compared to before the virus hit.
"This meaningful assistance package not only seeks to keep essential air services going, but also tries to prevent the existing regional aviation providers from collapsing," Mr Sharp said.
"While it is unfortunate that Rex will still need to stand down many staff, mainly flight crew and engineers since the flying activity will drop by about 80%, the assistance packages will mean that we can avoid 30-40% of our staff from being stood down.
"With this assistance package, regional Australia can be sure that all previously sustainable regional operators will be able to spring back into business if the crisis dies down within the next six to nine months."
The package from the federal government allows the funding of a minimum essential service of one weekly return flight per route, with the airline in the process of determining a new national network schedule.
However, the airline has indicated they may exit from some routes where there has been no or not enough support from local governments.
The move to a bare-bones schedule comes as the airline also announced they will be stopping all regular public services in Queensland from April 1 after the airline was unable to come to a workable solution with the state's government to keep the service running.