Government to step in to stop fuel surcharge on regional price-capped flights, costing WA taxpayers up to $1m

Regional flights in WA will not be lugged with extra fuel surcharges after the State Government announced it will cover the cost. According to Treasurer Rita Saffioti, airlines operating flights covered under the Regional Airfare Zone Cap have expressed concerns of rising jet fuel prices hurting their business given the the price-capped fares. Ms Saffioti said the Government would foot the bill of rising fuel costs, at an expected cost to taxpayers of between $500,000 to $1 million. The Government will also cover the same costs for subsidised intra-regional routes. Until July 1, flights to Perth from a regional airport within 1000km driving distance is capped at $398 return, and $598 for airports further away. “The airline industry came to us saying, ‘this is an extraordinary circumstance, we want to apply a fuel levy’ and we’ve said ‘no, we’re going to pay for that fuel levy’,” Ms Saffioti said. “We’re basically subsidising the travel for the regional residents airfare cap scheme and also for those areas where we have subsidised routes right through the Kimberley and also the intra-state travel.” Triple-trailer road trains will also be allowed closer to Perth to limit fuel costs for the trucking industry. For three months, triple-trailer road trains will be able to travel between Wubin — the previous city limit — and Muchea on the Great Northern Highway. Premier Roger Cook said it would improve efficiency for the freight route, reducing the amount of fuel used in the process. It comes before the Cook Government’s Wednesday 5pm deadline for fuel suppliers to report required information to the Government under emergency powers. Mr Cook said there was now “significant cooperation”, but wouldn’t say if all companies had fulfilled their duties. “Let me not characterise it as ‘all’, but certainly, the Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation is reporting that we’ve got a good line of sight now of the fuel volumes for stocks and the distribution,” he said. “I’m not sure about individual companies, but we’re now seeing significant cooperation.”