Qantas flights to Orange has rival Rex seeing red

The airline has revealed details of its flight schedules after announcing on Monday it would bring its Q200 (36 seat) and Q300 (50 seat) planes to Orange.

However, the move has upset rival Regional Express which already flies the route.

Rex has accused Qantas of abusing its market power. And it said the Qantas move had forced it to shelve plans for flights from Orange to Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The first scheduled Qantas flight is due to leave Sydney at 10.30am and land in Orange at 11.20am on Friday May 1. It would leave Orange 20 minutes later and arrive back in Sydney at 11.40am.

Most of the Qantas flights are scheduled for mid-morning, afternoons and evenings.

"Qantas will operate up to 11 return flights per week, pending the season, with a return flight each day, and double daily flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays," a statement from the airline said.

Qantas has also announced an introductory sale price of $129 one way for bookings until next Monday (February 17). After that the lead-in price will be $179.

Rex's current cheapest price, its Community Fare, is $108.50 one way. It is available outside of 30 days of departure. Its next price is $169 one way.

Qantas said its scheduling needed to work in with available slots at Sydney airport and did not plan to offer services from Orange to other cities.

"We don't currently have plans to expand Orange services but will monitor demand and respond accordingly," it said.

A Rex spokeswoman said its profits "will be sharply reduced" by Qantas' move.

The spokeswoman said Rex would present evidence to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that Qantas was abusing its corporate strength on the Orange and several other air routes.

"We believe that Qantas' recent actions do not reflect competition on merits which the law requires, but rather an attempt to abuse their dominant market power and financial strength," she said.

However, the airline does not plan to stop services to Orange and has called on the business community to support it.

"It will be catastrophic for the community of Orange if Rex pulls out all its weekly slots to Sydney airport. Qantas has no slots during the peak business demand periods and are only offering unwanted fringe slots to another community and the Orange business community will suffer enormously," she said.

"Rex will be loathed to do that, but will have to do so if the Orange business community is not supportive of Rex."

Rex said it had been working on plans for flights to other cities. "With Qantas adding 45,000 seats to the Sydney route, these plans have been shelved," she said.

QantasLink CEO John Gissing later said it was not hindering competition.

"As the sole operator between Sydney and Orange, [Rex] have been able to charge what they wanted for decades. Having another carrier on this route will create more competitive airfares and absolutely stimulate more demand for people to visit Orange," he said.

Orange mayor Reg Kidd said Qantas' decision was a boost for the region.

Deputy mayor and airport advisory committee chair Cr Sam Romano said ongoing expansion works at the Orange Regional Airport ensured there was plenty of room for an extra airline.

"There's space for extra check-in desks [and] the luggage carousel can handle extra volume," he said.