Rex Airlines has announced that it is launching flights from Melbourne Airport (MEL) to Perth International Airport (PER) as from June 2024.
The east to west domestic service will be available five times per week, using the airline’s B737 aircraft.
The new Melbourne to Perth route will become Rex’s 11th domestic service, with its Boeing 737 fleet flying to Australian state capital cities including Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and the Gold Coast.
According to Rex, the new service will add almost 90,000 seats to one of Australia’s busiest routes.
Melbourne Airport Chief Executive Officer Lorie Argus said that the arrival of Rex’s new route will increase competition and offer better options for customers.
“Having a third airline group flying between Perth and Melbourne will increase competition and allow more people to reconnect with family and friends or explore Victoria’s fantastic tourism offering,” Argus said in a statement.
“When more airlines compete on a particular route, consumers benefit and our record in the
domestic markets speaks for itself – Rex delivers terrific value for money,” Rex General Manager Network Strategy Warwick Lodge said.
“Rex consistently outshines its domestic rivals in on-time performance and cancellation rates,
and when travelers are booking a route of this distance and duration, reliability is paramount,” Lodge added.
According to Lodge, Rex’s competitors canceled a total of 57 flights on the Melbourne-Perth route in the first four months of 2024, while their combined on-time arrival and departure performance was only around 72%.