A new domestic airline could help curb soaring local airfares, but its owners will need to be brave, says Flight Centre boss, Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner – and have deep pockets.

In the meantime, NRL and AFL fans will have to cop domestic fares of $1200-$1300 if they want to travel interstate to see their team play in either Sydney or Melbourne.

Skyrocketing domestic airfares hit the headlines again this week after it was reported Bureau of Infrastructure figures showed an increase of 12 per cent in the seven weeks since REX collapsed.

But Qantas attempted to squash the data stating, “Fares are recorded only when they are available on the nominated day of travel (the last Thursday of the month), so it represents only a snapshot of fares at a particular point in time”.

Flight Centre CEO Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner.

Speaking to Travel Weekly this morning, Skroo highlighted Flight Centre’s own data that indicates domestic airfares, especially those servicing the ‘golden triangle’, are on the up.

“If you look at the golden Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne triangle, in August, our average, and this is average fare sold in economy, was 17 per cent up on August last year,” he said.

“September so far is 7 per cent up. And I think that before August, the last five months were pretty either flat or down a bit in terms of what the average fare was.”

Flight Centre Travel Group data shared with Travel Weekly depicts a clear shift in prices since July, when REX went into voluntary administration.

Skroo said it would appear Rex’s closure would have to be one factor bumping up the prices of economy flights, but mostly in the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne triangle.

“So, it would appear that one of the Rex was one of the factors probably that did bump those economy fears up in August,” he said.

“But the other interesting thing,” he added, “is that in the triangle, business fares are up 13, 17, and 12 per cent for July, August, September.”

While Turner’s data is taken from thousands of flights booked on Flight Centre each month, he said “wasn’t sure” of how the Bureau of Infrastructure compiles its index.

Fare nightmare ahead of footy finals in Sydney and Melbourne

While Cowboys fans in FNQ deliberate whether or not to pay around $1,500 for a return ticket to see their team play in Sydney at Allianz Stadium this weekend, the NRL team itself is reportedly having to charter a private flight to make the game as the number of seats on offer dwindles.

“We’re still working with the NRL through it,” Cowboys football boss Micheal Luck told The Courier Mail.

The Cowboys flew the ‘Grand Final Express’ to the final stage of their successful championship campaign in 2015. Image: https://www.facebook.com/TownsvilleAirport

“Hopefully we can get it sorted today, we need to know how we are getting down there and how we are getting back. The NRL and the airlines always try and accommodate us.

“There weren’t enough seats for us on any commercial flights, so the NRL was working with an agency to sort that out.

“Unless Virgin or Jetstar put on another commercial flight, which they have done before, we might have to get a charter flight to Sydney,” he said.

“There’s only two direct commercial flights from Townsville to Sydney, but we have a party of 36 plus all our travel gear, so there’s not enough seats for our team on those flights.”

Brisbane Lions faithful, meanwhile, are up for around $1300, for their flights to the game if they wish to attend the AFL preliminary final against the Cats at the MCG on Saturday. Port Adelaide fans travelling to the SCG for Friday night’s clash with the Sydney Swans can get it a little cheaper – only $1200 return.

The solution?

Skroo says a new carrier would be great, but it may be a while before we see a new entrant.

“Whether it’s a low-cost carrier or a general carrier, I do think Australia needs another airline, but it’s going to need, the owners are going to need, a lot of airline experience, good experience, and they’re going to need very deep pockets,” he said.

Joking about the possibility of Koala Airlines entering the fold, Skroo said even when flying Rex which he thought was “very good”, the flights were still not full.

Koala Airlines unveils plans to be Australia’s next low cost carrier

“The reality is that I believe there’s less capacity now there was 12 months ago domestically, and obviously part of that’s due to Rex,” he continued.

“But also, I believe Qantas and Virgin have probably dropped a little bit of capacity as well. So, it is a matter of having enough capacity in the first instance, and then airlines really competing in the second and, you know, I don’t think there’s much (competition).

“I don’t think they’re that excited about competing too heavily at the moment, because obviously Virgin is trying to do an IPO. They [sic] don’t want to have too many cheap airfares on the market, or to set the expectations too low.

“And obviously Qantas is a dominant carrier, with themselves and Jetstar and between them, as you know, they’ve got 95 per cent of the market.”