Qantas has slammed Rex's claims of predatory activity as the regional airline abandons five regional routes Rex announced today that it would withdraw services from Bathurst, Grafton, Lismore, Kangaroo Island and Ballina. Flights to these five centres will cease on June 30, coinciding with the end of the Federal Government’s Regional Airline Network Support (RANS) program, except for the Ballina route, which will terminate on July 2. Rex’s Deputy Chairman, the Hon John Sharp AM, said, “Rex has faithfully serviced most of these routes for 20 years and some of them for more than 30 years by Rex’s predecessor Kendell and Hazelton. "So it is with a really heavy heart that we have to announce the cessation of services in an effort to improve Rex’s financial performance. Qantas’ well-publicised predatory actions on Rex’s regional routes have meant that Rex no longer has the ability to cross-subsidise these marginal routes”. “It is unfortunate that these regional communities are the collateral damage of Qantas’ bullying and heartless behaviour. This behaviour is all the more unconscionable after receiving over $2 billion in federal bailouts over the past 2 years,” Mr Sharp said. A Qantas spokesperson said that "these latest claims from Rex are just ridiculous." “Rex is always looking to blame others when it withdraws from regional routes, but none of its claims stack up to scrutiny. Rex has a monopoly on three of these routes it’s abandoning, so if it can’t make them work, it has no one else to blame but itself. “Rex says it doesn’t have the funds to cross-subsidise these routes, but it doesn’t have a problem finding money to invest in more aircraft for its capital city 737 operations. That must be confusing for regional customers given Rex’s tagline is that their heart is in the country. “Rex’s claims against Qantas have become so far-fetched, we had to create a dedicated page on our website to rebut them and update it on a fairly regular basis as they cook up more weird conspiracy theories.” See Qantas's responses here;