A WA parliamentary inquiry into the cost of regional airfares will not deliver lower prices, according to community leaders and analysts.

Anger is building across regional areas over the price of air travel, with many residents fares have never been so high.

When the Broome-based Tick family decided to send 15-year-old Talulah away to boarding school in Perth they vowed to bring her home at the end of every term to ease the transition.

But her mother Mardi Tick now has to break that promise.

"Unfortunately the price of the airfares is so high I haven't been able to deliver on that," she said.

It spurred Ms Tick to start the Broome Airfare Action Group, campaigning for a better deal for residents.

"So many people have said to me 'it is too expensive, I can't go to these things I can't go and see a concert, I can't go and see my family, I can't even afford a ticket to Perth to be able to buy a cheaper international ticket to go overseas on a holiday'."

Mardi Tick is campaigning for a better deal for Broome residents. ( ABC News: Cecile O'Connor )

Prices going up?

Shane Dow says it's a big financial burden travelling from the Pilbara to Perth. ( ABC News: Angus Sargent )

Residents in Karratha pay about $700 for a flexible one-way flight to Perth.

Shane Dow and his family travel from the Pilbara to Perth six times a year to take his toddler to hospital.

He said it was becoming a bigger financial burden.

"It is not very affordable especially as of two years we have got to pay her ticket as well so it is very expensive to go anywhere," Mr Dow said.

He believes prices are going up.

Kalgoorlie Boulder chief executive John Walker said airfares to and from Kalgoorlie seemed to have risen significantly over the past year.

Analysis of flights to Perth over the past three months showed the average cost of a return flight was $820.

"That's outrageous," he said.

The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has threatened to start its own airline if Qantas and Virgin do not lower their fares.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder CEO John Walker says the shire has threatened to start its own airline. ( Supplied: City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder )

"There [are] a lot of regulatory hurdles, we understand that. But when you pay $820 to fly on Virgin or Qantas for a weekend, maybe there's a Kalgoorlie airplane that flies weekend routes. It's unlikely but it's something that we need to explore," Mr Walker said.

"We think they are gouging the residents to fill the plane after they have done their corporate deals with fly-in, fly-out people, who obviously have no contribution to the local community ... whereas the local people who do their business here are penalised."

Mr Walker said the council welcomed the recently-announced parliamentary inquiry into regional airfares, but was sceptical about how much it could achieve.

"The Government can uncover what they like, but in an open-skies environment a company is free to price how it wants," he said.

Led by the Economics and Industry Standing Committee, the inquiry will look at what factors are contributing to high airfare prices, as well as the cost to communities, businesses and tourism.

Kimberley MP Josie Farrer said the State Government needed to "sit down and listen" to regional residents.

"I think it is vital for all of us that we have our say ... small businesses in particular," she said.

Higher cost base in WA

Both Qantas and Virgin Australia have said they will work with the inquiry.

Qantas said the per-kilometre cost for smaller aircraft, which were used in WA, was significantly higher.

"We face a higher cost base in WA than other parts of the network, including high airport charges in remote WA," the airline said in a statement.

Virgin said its airfare pricing was driven by many factors including demand, competition, operating costs, and airport pricing and taxes.

Virgin stopped flying to Albany last year.

Since then, the State Government has struck a deal with New South Wales-based airline Regional Express Airlines (Rex) to fly from Esperance and Albany, hoping for more competitive fares.

The airline offers $129 fares on the eve of departure, saying the community fare scheme had already "revolutionised" regional travel.

Do airlines care?

Curtin Business School lecturer Michael Baird said while public sentiment around regional travel in Western Australia was not good, most airlines were prepared to wear it.

"I'm sure if we did some analysis of social media it would be terrible when you're talking about regional flights in Western Australia," he said.

"Does the airline care? That's a completely different question.

"The airline could do things to rectify this situation but is it in its best business interest to do that?"

He is also not convinced a parliamentary inquiry would deliver lower prices.

"I am a little bit sceptical of Government inquiries into this because usually big airlines are well prepared for investigations such as this," he said.

"When you're dealing with multi-billion-dollar companies, they're so strategic in their long-term plans that they would have to consider investigations in this regard."