Rex to fly between Australian capital cities

[dajop]

To put in perspective, $67m is about 25% of Rex’s passenger revenue of $270m in 2019.

Yeh, although I have defended the fact that Rex didn't receive all of the $198m, doing the math is interesting. Commonwealth funding is supposed to support 75 return services a week for 6 months. That's equivalent to 5,100 seats for 26 weeks = 132,600 seats. $66m = $460 per seat. A bit crazy.

 

[farmboy]

That's why I guarantee that security screening for aircraft of less than 40 seats either, will never happen, or it will happen with the screening paid for by state/federal governments not Rex/Qantas link passengers or the local government airport owners despite what CASA or other security agencies say.

Er, Dubbo airport (apx 200,000 pax pa) has full security, paid for by passengers of both Qantas and Rex.
There were 11 weekday flights to Sydney before the pandemic hit. Shared by both Qantas and Rex.
Here's the security story. A few years ago there was none because both aircraft used on the route fell under the weight limit that required security.
Qantas then decided to occasionally fly in a larger Dash 8 aircraft, - that did require security. So the Council installed security and insisted that it be used by both Rex and Qantas, even though the Rex Saabs do not legally require it. They imposed a ticket levy of about $9 to cover the cost. Rex took the council to court but lost their case. So Dubbo still has full security. Paid for by passengers.
A cynic might say that it was a deliberate ploy by Qantas to impose a cost on its competitor. The competition on that route is/was fierce.

 

[farmboy]

What is a DH Shortz? Google couldn't tell me?

Its a bit ironic that in the early 1970s Dubbo was served by no less than a Fokker F28 jet service. It took 35 minutes ground to ground, less than 30 minutes in the air. This was an Ansett service.

 

[flydoc]

Latest announcement by REX to the ASX says they are pressing ahead with plans for domestic jet ops.

Planning to raise at least $30m secured against 15 of their current Saab fleet, to acquire (presumably lease?) 5-10 narrowbodies to operate as full service model on golden triangle routes fro March 2021.

Also in talks with ATR about a ‘commercial cooperation ‘ arrangement involving possible fleet renewal and flight crew training activities

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200629/pdf/44k12b332b1wsv.pdf

 

[jakeseven7]

Latest announcement by REX to the ASX says they are pressing ahead with plans for domestic jet ops.

Planning to raise at least $30m secured against 15 of their current Saab fleet, to acquire (presumably lease?) 5-10 narrowbodies to operate as full service model on golden triangle routes fro March 2021.

Also in talks with ATR about a ‘commercial cooperation ‘ arrangement involving possible fleet renewal and flight crew training activities

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200629/pdf/44k12b332b1wsv.pdf

Interesting.

So whats available locally and quickly?

Some VA1 A320's (maybe could use), A330's (joke), B777 (joke), ATRs (maybe could use) and 737s (maybe could use). Are the Fokkers even VA's?

Consumers at the moment (right now) would probably trust Rex more than VA - but in March 2021.... that is a long way away....

 

[p--and--t]

Consumers at the moment (right now) would probably trust Rex more than VA

but in March 2021.... that is a long way away

(for consumers yes, but for the company? Leases, schedules, IT, pilots, spare parts, maintenance routines, approvals, airport slots, etc I'd guess a lot more under the covers besides hiring a plane and selling tickets. They sooner they are in the air, the better chance they have to win over the ex-VA1 crowd who repeatedly claim they would rather drive than fly QF.

 

[Melburnian1]

Latest announcement by REX to the ASX says they are pressing ahead with plans for domestic jet ops.

If this comes to fruition, it will demonstrate to rural city consumers (again such as in Albury/Wodonga how their fares are often higher on a per kilometre basis than higher volume routes like MEL - SYD.

 

[jakeseven7]

They sooner they are in the air, the better chance they have to win over the ex-VA1 crowd who repeatedly claim they would rather drive than fly QF.

Agreed but look at the VA1 refugee thread (Qatar status match thread) and wait until they have to start paying for seat selection and a bottle of water Then lets see what happens (half joking)

 

[p--and--t]

Agreed but look at the VA1 refugee thread (Qatar status match thread) and wait until they have to start paying for seat selection and a bottle of water Then lets see what happens (half joking)

"5-10 narrowbodies to operate as full service model on golden triangle routes fro March 2021."


I was working on the basis of a no fuss fare implied in the statement above.

 

[Melburnian1]

Yeh, although I have defended the fact that Rex didn't receive all of the $198m, doing the math is interesting. Commonwealth funding is supposed to support 75 return services a week for 6 months. That's equivalent to 5,100 seats for 26 weeks = 132,600 seats. $66m = $460 per seat. A bit crazy.

Strangely when I look at MEL and SYD scheduled flight arrivals and departures on weekends, as of 26-27 June 2020 Rex does not appear to be operating any flights. It operates on weekdays only, not helpful if one for some reason couldn't travel on Friday and wanted to on Saturday. Ah well, at least NSW TrainLink serves almost all of the places Rex flies to (except BHQ) daily with either trains or trains plus connecting road coaches.

 

[jakeseven7]

"5-10 narrowbodies to operate as full service model on golden triangle routes fro March 2021."


I was working on the basis of a no fuss fare implied in the statement above.

Yes I can read , my comment (poorly worded apologies) was saying that once VA starts going down market lets see if the old VA loyalists stick with them.

Rex and QF offering a more full service offering on the golden triangle is very interesting... With 10 narrow bodies they could get some reasonable frequency if they had 3 destinations...

 

[p--and--t]

Yes I can read , my comment (poorly worded apologies) was saying that once VA starts going down market lets see if the old VA loyalists stick with them.

Rex and QF offering a more full service offering on the golden triangle is very interesting... With 10 narrow bodies they could get some reasonable frequency if they had 3 destinations...

For me it wouldn't take much effort to upstage a VA1 half a tiny muesli bar and bottle of water let alone what might be on the cards for VA2.

 

[Melburnian1]

..Rex and QF offering a more full service offering on the golden triangle is very interesting... With 10 narrow bodies they could get some reasonable frequency if they had 3 destinations...

Wouldn't a problem for Rex be that it isn't "known" by travel agents (including those sending mainland Chinese groups here, which from memory are now about 40 per cent of that nation's travellers to Oz - or were, pre pandemic) so off peak, Rex'd have trouble filling its flights?

And not offering other major routes means it relies on so--called 'OD' passenger traffic (of which there's a lot) but it would not have large numbers of passengers feeding in from overseas or medium sized other capital cities/larger rural cities. Its SAABs carry only 34 and so they're not a huge source of connecting users.

 

[jakeseven7]

For me it wouldn't take much effort to upstage a VA1 half a tiny muesli bar and bottle of water let alone what might be on the cards for VA2.

Ummmm what life of luxury have you been experiencing on VA1? Thimble of water replaced the bottles a long time ago. And I'm a gold! Sometimes they fill it 75% of the way and thats exciting.

 

[jase05]

For me it wouldn't take much effort to upstage a VA1 half a tiny muesli bar and bottle of water let alone what might be on the cards for VA2.

That’s still better than the garbage QF serve in J

 

[p--and--t]

That’s still better than the garbage QF serve in J

How does one respond to blatant misinformation and "fake news"

 

[jase05]

How does one respond to blatant misinformation and "fake news"

Some of the meals I’ve had in QF J I would have preferred a muesli bar, just horrible

 

[dajop]

Strangely when I look at MEL and SYD scheduled flight arrivals and departures on weekends, as of 26-27 June 2020 Rex does not appear to be operating any flights.

Rex has always had reduced service operating on weekends (from memory they mainly used to do Saturday morning services and Sunday evenings but not much in between). Presumably due to lack of business travel, and leisure travel unable to support the average fares they want to achieve. So this is not surprising when they are operating a reduced schedule overall.

One also presumes they are only receiving support for a certain number of services a week, to support essential traffic rather than leisure traffic, and as such weekends get the chop.

Of course we can debate whether this is morally right or not!

 

[eastwest101]

(for consumers yes, but for the company? Leases, schedules, IT, pilots, spare parts, maintenance routines, approvals, airport slots, etc I'd guess a lot more under the covers besides hiring a plane and selling tickets. They sooner they are in the air, the better chance they have to win over the ex-VA1 crowd who repeatedly claim they would rather drive than fly QF.

While there are a lot of things to do to expand Rex to a A320 or B737 operator flying the golden triangle,it isn't as ridiculous as it sounds, there are a few things also going for them, there is a massive pool of parked aircraft worldwide that leasors will want to get flying, lots of unemployed recent type air crew, jet fuel is still pretty cheap, money is cheap in this low interest rate environment, they already have ground agents and a relationship with owners and have staff at nearly every major Australian airport, they can't be allowed to go broke because they fly necessary regional routes....

Seeing as Bain are going to do a full overhaul of VA wih a fleet simplification and IT systems and customer facing web sites and Apps - why not piggy back off that work and join their booking systems to VA2s IT systems rather than duking it out in a head to head in a 3 way (no 4 way) capacity war in the golden triangle with QF, VA2 and JQ and Rex? Is this Rex's clumsy way of asking Bain to pick up the phone and talk to them?

In every disaster there is opportunity, I was a bit surprised to hear about serious thought about an ATR42 fleet - I thought the Saab 340s would be flying for many more years but I expect the sudden influx of cheap used/leased ATR42s might have been too good an opportunity to pass up.

As regards to service - pre-Covid-19 Rex had a single class of service with limited but free luggage allowance, ($5 extra leg room seats were the only option) and they served a cup of water and a packet of crisps/museli bar on all flights, which is pretty much the same pack of chips and muesli bar you get on any Y sercice on a VA or QF flight.,....

 

[flydoc]

Wouldn't a problem for Rex be that it isn't "known" by travel agents.

The ASX release does mention Global Distribution Systems for fare sales- so, broadening their channels somewhat

Global distribution system - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org