Flying Nowhere

Internal flights in Australia are bloody expensive. It costs less to fly from Perth to Bali than it does from Perth to Sydney. The main problem is that there just isn’t enough competition – there are only three or four airlines that fly domestically in Australia. This is a country so vast that, unless you’re an OAP or a backpacker with the time to amble from place to place in a caravan, car or clapped-out VW van, there is simply no option but to fly from city to city, so I can’t understand why there aren’t more domestic airlines. Unlike in the UK where it is possible to travel by train, bus or car to pretty much anywhere without it taking too long, thereby forcing the airlines to drive down their prices in order to encourage people to fly, the airlines here know that most travel will necessitate a flight and they take advantage of that.


Flying from outback Karratha, where the majority of the population is working on one of the mining or oil and gas projects and either has their flights paid for by the company or earns enough so that it doesn’t matter, it is even more expensive. The airlines know they can charge more so they do. I tried to book flights to Perth for a weekend of restaurants, bars, shopping and culture (just a little fix to keep me going!) but it was going to cost me AU$1300 return for the both of us – a whopping £740 just for a short weekend away, and that’s without a hotel, eating out and all the other expenses such a weekend would incur!

Before coming here I comforted myself with thoughts of a dose of civilisation once a month or so, knowing that Perth was only a two hour flight away. Those dreams have now been dashed on the rocks of airline greed. I will simply have to do the second best thing - get dressed up, pour myself several martinis, watch back-to-back episodes of Sex and the City, and dream of heels, cocktails and tables with starched white tablecloths.