Qantas and Virgin Blue are likely to bid for regional services to Geraldton and Exmouth from Perth when Western Australian routes are deregulated in December.
Reports from WA suggest Qantas will tender for routes to Albany and Esperance.
WA protects its inland and coastal intra-state routes. The WA Government has requested proposals for five-year contracts for services to Monkey Mia, Carnarvon, Kalbarri, Albany, Esperance, Meekatharra, Wiluna, Laverton, Leinster, Leonora and Mt Magnet.
Proposals are due by the end of June, the West Australian newspaper has reported, with contracts to be awarded in September for services to start in December.
According to a WA Government Department of Transport document detailing a presentation to stakeholders, the proposed framework would see up to two licences issued for Perth/Learmonth, Perth/Albany and Perth/Esperance routes. Perth Geraldton would become a new deregulated route. One licence would be issued for Perth/Derby and other routes, including one connecting Perth with Derby and one running from Geraldton to Learmonth with stops at Kalbarri, Monkey Mia and Carnarvon.
The document notes: Remove protection on Perth-Geraldton route, to facilitate hub; allow for one network licence; Perth/Learmonth/Carnarvon/Monkey Mia/Kalbarri/Geraldton. Additional licence. Perth/Learmonth (jets).
The West Australian quoted Qantas as saying the airline was looking at all opportunities in WA and Virgin Blue as confirming that "a few destinations in WA" were under consideration.
The WA Government has rejected any concept of full deregulation to all destinations. It is concerned that loss-making destinations like Monkey Mia could see their services decline. Skywest and Skippers Aviation are big players in the WA intra-state aviation scene. Skywest flies 42 services a week to Geraldton using 46-seat Fokker 50 aircraft, with three of the services continuing to Monkey Mia and Kalbarri.
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