Airline price war drives Melbourne to Sydney fares down to $39 in bid to boost domestic tourism

A price war has erupted between domestic airlines, with tickets for flights between Melbourne and Sydney selling for as low as $39. Qantas’ budget airline Jetstar, Virgin and Regional Express have put thousands of domestic flights on sale. Rex sparked the price war when it revealed it had slashed the price of its Sydney-Melbourne route to only $39 on Monday. Virgin and Jetstar soon followed, offering fares at similar prices on what is currently the seventh busiest flight route in the world. Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said he hoped the sale would reignite the domestic market and boost tourist numbers between the two major cities. It comes after both cities were excluded from the government’s discount tickets measure intended to stimulate the tourism industry. “Peak tourism bodies reported yesterday that flagship stimulus programs from state and federal governments have not benefited Melbourne and Sydney,” Sharp said. “This will now change as Rex’s ‘cheaper than the bus’ fares will see airfares between the two cities even lower than the federal government-sponsored Tourism Aviation Network Support program fare and will jump-start leisure and business travel. “I believe this initiative will singlehandedly revive a moribund travel and hospitality industry in the two cities.”<br/>