The Australian government's Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts has issued a Request for Tender (RFT) to provide air services to remote areas under the Remote Air Services Subsidy (RASS) Scheme.

The July 23 tender request is soliciting suitably qualified operators to provide air services to remote areas of South Australia's and Queensland's Channel Country, Tasmania's Cape Barren Island, and Queensland's Cape York region. The contracts are for two years, with the government retaining the option to offer up to two 12-month extensions. The Channel Country contract is for freight only. The Cape Barren services are for passengers only, and the Cape York contracts are for freight and passengers.

The RASS Scheme provides essential air services to ten regions nationally across the Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania. An RASS location is typically a cattle station or a First Nations community with a population ranging from six to around 200 people. Many of these locations have no reliable road access for several months each year during the wet season, making a regular air service the only reliable means of transport. Currently, Chinta Air has the RASS Channel Country contract, Skytrans (QN, Cairns) has the Cape York contract, and Airlines of Tasmania (ATM, Hobart Cambridge) has the Cape Barren contract.

"Through this RFT, the Commonwealth is seeking innovative, value-for-money solutions from the market that deliver the RASS Scheme's objective which is to provide communities in remote and isolated areas of Australia with improved access through the subsidy of a regular air transport service, typically weekly, for the carriage of passengers and goods," the RFT reads.

Tenderers may offer to provide the specified services in any one, two, or all three of the regions, and they may propose different aircraft types, or combinations of aircraft type, to cater for demand changes and seasons. The RASS Scheme is not designed to support ferrying tourists around.

Historically, the Channel County contract has seen the contractor carry just over 16,000 tonnes of cargo annually, averaging around 1,340 tonnes on each of the twelve RASS landing strips currently served. The current twice-weekly roundtrips between Launceston and Cape Barren have historically carried 383 passengers annually, or 32 passengers per month. The Cape York RASS flights, currently pivoting out of Cairns, are more complex. The flights run five days per week to up to eleven RASS landing strips each day, flying an average of 31.73 tonnes of cargo and freight annually and just under 300 passengers annually.

Tenders can be lodged via the Australian government's electronic tender portal, and the tender deadline is 1200L (0200Z) on August 19, 2024.