Regional airline Rex has taken aim at Qantas, placing full-page ads in today's newspapers accusing its rival of failing to provide more than a billion dollars' worth of refunds during the pandemic.
The Rex ads show dozens of social media posts purportedly from disgruntled Qantas customers complaining about the national carrier's refund process.
They also spruik a "COVID refund guarantee" from Rex, with the regional airline promising to offer a full cash refund on tickets sold after April 1 to any passengers whose travel plans are disrupted because of a direct COVID-related reason.
READ MORE: Rex Airlines labels Qantas' regional routes as 'aggressive predatory moves'
Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said the airline had also refunded every passenger who had requested their money back because of travel plans interrupted by COVID on tickets sold before April 1.
"Rex believes that it is extremely important for the airline industry to do as much as they can to instil confidence in people to book and pay for a flight," Mr Sharp said.
Mr Sharp accused Qantas of doing the opposite and "undermining the confidence" of passengers by "making it extremely difficult" for its passengers to get a refund.
The deputy chairman called on Qantas to offer the same refund guarantee as Rex.
"We think it's important that Qantas lives up to the standard to the standard set by others," he said.
"We think Qantas should be implementing a full refund policy for all passengers … particularly at a time like this where there are lockdowns in Victoria and where, from no fault of their own, people can't take a flight."
A Qantas spokesperson said since the start of the pandemic the airline had assisted more than 2.5 million customers whose flights have been impacted by COVID-19 border restrictions, offering increased flexibility for all customers.
"If a customer's flight is cancelled due to COVID travel restrictions they can already choose a refund, a voucher or to travel at a later date," the spokesperson said.
"Despite Rex's repeated attempts to drag Qantas into a public slanging match, our focus will remain on our customers and our people."
The newspaper ads are the latest move in Rex's outspoken criticism of Qantas.
In February, Rex announced a major revamp of its regional route network in response to what it called "aggressive predatory moves" by the Flying Kangaroo.
Rex argued that Qantas' entry into routes such as Sydney to Orange and Sydney to Merimbula would force it out.
In order to "recover from the losses", Rex started new services in April including Sydney to Coffs Harbour and Sydney to Port Macquarie.
At the time, Rex also called on Australia's competition watchdog to intervene in what it believes are Qantas's attempts to squeeze out smaller players.
QantasLink CEO John Gissing responded that Qantas would only start commercially viable new routes for the airline, and said the regional airline was having a "classic Rex tantrum".
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