The Western Australian government says it will impose strict standards on regional airline Rex, after it won a renewed contract for multiple routes across regional WA despite a growing number of delays and complaints.

From October, Rex will fly a minimum of 22 return services between Perth and Esperance each week, increasing its service by four flights a week.

The deal will also see a minimum of 24 weekly flights between Perth and Albany, and seven weekly flights from the capital to Monkey Mia and Carnarvon. 

But Esperance locals and businesses who have been impacted by regular delays say the regional airline needs to do better. 

Chris Hurst is a tourism operator in the region who also runs the shuttle bus between the town and the airport. 

He said not knowing when flights would take off and land had impacted customers and his business. 

"I can't communicate to my staff when they need to get to work, the passengers don't know when they need to get up to go to the airport," he said. 

'No reliability'

The decision to hand Rex the Esperance route has been labelled disappointing by Shire President Ian Mickel, who said more than 50 per cent of flights had been delayed.

"They have not been on time at all."

Mr Mickel said constant delays were impacting locals and holiday makers travelling to and from Perth, but also specialists who travelled to the region to provide critical services.

He said there was a risk some providers would stop travelling to the region if the delays did not improve. 

"Medical specialists that come into town, they are just infuriated with what's happened to them over time. There's no reliability at all and they're having to put their patients back or have 30 consultations in a day," he said.

Rex determined to improve

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said despite Rex failing to meet community expectations, the airline was best placed to manage the three routes across the state.

"In some cases, their numbers are some of the strongest." 

Ms Saffioti said she had been given assurances the service would improve.

"They have given us assurance about how there are going to increase capacity, increase the number of pilots they have available, increase the number of aircraft they have available to ensure they're more reliable in the future," she said.

Ms Saffioti said the terms of the contract were robust and KPIs had been put in place to ensure customer service standards were met.

Calls for better communication

Earlier this month the airliner apologised to customers for the ongoing delays, saying a global pilot shortage was partially to blame, but were taking steps to improve its performance. 

REX general manager Warrick Lodge said the airliner understood it needed to improve its communication with passengers.

"We acknowledge the past seven or eight months have been quite challenging and we need to do better with that," he said. 

Mr Lodge said despite the delays the airliner had increased the frequency of it operations across the state and expected the standard to improve in October as more aircraft were brought online. 

Mr Hurst, who is also a pilot, said while all airlines experienced delays, poor communication had been Rex's Achilles heal.

"They've had trouble with staffing, so there's been delays, which every airline has been impacted by," he said.

"People don't get as angry if they know what's going on … I think that's probably where they feel a little bit let down."