Outback residents fed up with poor airline reliability have welcomed a new passenger service, which will start operating throughout northern WA in July.
Nexus Airlines will run direct services between Geraldton and Perth and two multi-stop flights: Geraldton-Karratha-Port Hedland-Broome and Broome-Kununurra-Darwin.
Nexus will operate five 76-seater De Havilland next-generation Dash 8, Q400 aircraft.
State and local governments and Broome and Port Hedland's airports have contributed about $8 million to help get the new service off the ground and ensure the routes are initially viable.
The new service will compete with Darwin-based airline Airnorth, which has copped criticism in recent years for being generally unreliable, in particular, cancelling services at short notice without telling passengers.
East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Clare Smith said it was great news that another major airline would be operating in the region.
"There's definitely been limitations with having only one airline operating on that [Broome-Kununurra-Darwin] route and prices have increased for various reasons," she said.
"The reliability has been patchy over the past few years. It's pretty limiting having flights in and out of Kununurra every second day."
Nexus has flagged plans to run more services from the Kimberley to Darwin so travellers can avoid the late-night "red-eye" flight from the NT capital to cities on the east coast.
Tourism and hospitality magnate Michael McConachy part-owns HM Consolidated Group, which includes Nexus' owner Aviair.
Mr McConachy, Nexus and Aviair are based in Kununurra.
Ms Smith said that local connection allowed Nexus Airlines to be more accountable to residents.
"One of the frustrations that businesses and residents feel is that we can't actually get in contact with anyone or we don't have that two-way easy sort of feedback towards an airline or back from them if there's going to be delays," she said.
Airline 'long-overdue'
The airline's Geraldton-Perth direct flights will run in the morning and evening every week day.
City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said the airline brought "long-overdue" competition to regional routes.
"What was originally going to be a northern connection, Geraldton to Karratha — giving businesses in the Midwest access to the mining boom areas of the Pilbara — they've also simultaneously launched competitive flights to Perth," he said.
"We are excited to see more $199 resident fares are on offer. It hopefully removes the need for people to buy those $400 and $500 tickets that we see every so often with Qantas."
Qantas has been operating on a reduced flight schedule in Geraldton since June last year due to staffing pressures.
The state government's capped regional airfares are only available to locals through the airline's Frequent Flyer scheme.
Mr Van Styn said business people and those travelling for medical appointments were expected to benefit the most from the twice-daily flights.
"Getting to Perth at around 7:30am allows you to have a full day's work, provided you can make it for the 5pm home departure," he said.
Owner saw gap in market
Mr McConachy said Nexus would make travel in regional WA easier and more accessible.
"We've just seen some gaps there in the market where we think that other services don't exist or there's opportunity for more supply to come in and service these towns," he said.
"By moving into the larger aircraft, it does bring the price of those fares down as well."
He said he was confident Nexus would have enough pilots and crew to staff the services, an issue that has plagued Airnorth in the Kimberley.
"These guys are going to be based in the regions, so a lot of the crew that we've employed are actually from Geraldton or Broome or from regional WA," Mr McConachy said.
"And those that aren't, we're bringing them into the region."
Aviation expert Tim Collins said extra competition generally led to cheaper fairs and better services.
"I think that it might take a little while for demand to build because not everybody will know about this immediately, but to be able to fly from Karratha to Broome, for example, that's a route that certainly for industry will be quite useful," he said.
Nexus' air services will begin on July 10.
