Thousands of people living regionally will be impacted by the reduction of Rex Airlines flights from today with more South Australian towns affected than any other state.
Locations affected from May 1 include Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Whyalla, Port Lincoln and Ceduna in SA; Cairns and Bamaga in Far North Queensland; Sydney, Broken Hill and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales; and Melbourne in Victoria.
The entire route from Mildura to Adelaide has also been suspended.
The Ceduna to Adelaide route had 10 weekly return flights that have been reduced to seven, and the Port Lincoln to Adelaide route has been reduced to 37 weekly return flights down from 41.
Hundreds of dollars, hours lost
For Ceduna business owner Rhian Ahston, the reduced flights will mean her family has to drive more than 1,500 kilometres to get her four-year-old daughter Delilah to a specialist appointment.
"My husband has to take three days off to drive over for a check-up appointment for her," she said.
Delilah lives with absent seizure epilepsy and must see a specialist annually in Adelaide.
Her next appointment is coming up in June and what would have been a one-day trip with a return flight has turned into a three-day mission driving more than 16 hours.
"It feels like we're just getting treated like we don't matter," she said.
"It's going to cause a lot of issues for the town and services.
"A lot of people can't afford the time to drive to Adelaide."
Meanwhile, as the owner of an accommodation business, Ms Ashton has already lost more than $1,500 in cancellations due to visitors' flights being changed or cancelled.
"I feel like because we're so far away from Adelaide, we do get forgotten about," she said.
"We get put on the bottom of the list.
"A lot of other towns and places that are serviced by Rex have had cuts but nowhere near the cuts we've had."
Rex Airlines has vowed to reinstate the axed services when it can but has insisted the decision was unavoidable due to pilot, engineer and part shortages.
While it admits some communities will be adversely affected, it describes the changes to its network as minor.
Fear of service shortage
MP for Flinders Sam Telfer has written to Rex Airlines seeking an explanation for the flight cuts and to determine whether they are short-term or long-term.
Now the airline schedule has become more complex Mr Telfer is concerned, like many, that the reduction will mean medical specialists will no longer want to fly from Adelaide to the Eyre Peninsula to provide healthcare services to residents.
"We need to have a bit of certainty so we know exactly what the future holds for our regional and remote communities," he said.
Mr Telfer says SA's regional airports are key entry points for government services, tourists and business.
"We need to have an air travel system that is safe, reliable and consistent," he said.
"There is a real risk that isolated communities are going to be detrimentally affected."
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Lower Eyre Peninsula Council Delfina Lanzilli said it has been working with Rex Airlines to better explain the impact of the flight schedule change.
As the owner and manager, the council has put in a significant investment to the Port Lincoln Airport, Ms Lanzilli said.
"We are trying as hard as we can to work with them," she said.
"I do ask our patrons to be patient with the staff at the airport.
"At the end of the day, they're not responsible for the schedule."
