Rex in voluntary administration, ending all 737 services

[yachty]

Certainly is super quiet in Rex land. The world has since moved on and the 737 operation is largely just a forgotten memory now.

Wonder if they are having issues sorting out what to do with the Saab operation.

Wasn't EY originally spruiking that it would be wrapped up in "weeks"? Certainly has taken a while...

Bankers begin the task of unravelling the Rex empire with asset sales

Almost two months after Regional Express called in administrators, the regional airline’s assets is being broken up and sold off.

www.afr.com

Reports property has already started to be sold off. Lim Kim Hai has already bought some, and is "interested in other assets that the airline owns" too.

Deadline to confirm bids for the Saab op is end of this month with "plenty of interest".

 

[henrus]

Deadline to confirm bids for the Saab op is end of this month with "plenty of interest".

Yeh right... didn't we hear something recently about Bonza and their AOC.

 

[Harrison_133]

Four Corners on Monday will cover Rex.

Both Lim and Sharp are interviewed.

In aviation, there’s a saying: When things go wrong, they go wrong fast.

The same is true for Rex Airlines.

After nearly two decades of steady service, the regional carrier’s board imploded in June.

The next month, Rex entered voluntary administration, its intercity service collapsed, and hundreds of jobs were lost.

Many blame Rex’s bold move to challenge Qantas and Virgin in Australia’s brutal domestic market

This week on Four Corners, journalist Emily Baker exclusively interviews Rex’s former leaders, to uncover what went wrong and why Australia can’t seem to sustain a third airline.

Source: Four Corners: Sept 30 | TV Tonight

 

[Big John]

Four Corners on Monday will cover Rex.

Both Lim and Sharp are interviewed.

Thanks for the heads up. Will watch this with great interest.

 

[33kft]

Anyone taking bets on what Lim does with the rope they hand him....

Also, a shot for every time Sharp blames a competitor. Double if it's Qantas.

 

[Saab34]

I assume Lim will pile on QF. He doesn’t seem the type that would ever admit responsibility for any downfall. His way is the only way it seems.

I would be interested to see who called the shots at Rex. Is John Sharp just a puppet to Lim?

 

[jakeseven7]

Anyone taking bets on what Lim does with the rope they hand him....

Also, a shot for every time Sharp blames a competitor. Double if it's Qantas.

RIP then because you will die from alcohol poisoning within 45 seconds

 

[Harrison_133]

An ABC article has dropped in the lead up of tonight's Four Corners episode.

Lim argued marketing was not necessary in a sector with so few options.

"It is a domestic market where there are three or probably four other choices and people are savvy enough to know," he said.

Source: For the first time since its collapse, Rex bosses share the inside story of how it all went wrong

 

[33kft]

Great news for QF/VA - no need for marketing anymore. Can't wait to hear what other successful business insights we're in for tonight.

The good news is, they do both agree on something:

There is one thing Lim and Sharp agree on: the conduct of Qantas harmed Rex's chances of making it in the domestic market.

 

[p--and--t]

Great news for QF/VA - no need for marketing anymore. Can't wait to hear what other successful business insights we're in for tonight.

The good news is, they do both agree on something:

I don’t believe I have come across that industry protocol document yet? You know the one that says “competitors must not compete if you state you are going to take their customers away”.

And of course VA reducing /matching discounts on their fares on flights on the same sectors at the same time were a total coincidence and only QF is a baddy.

 

[Harrison_133]

Behind paywall, The Australian is reporting that no offers have been received for the Saab operation.

 

[Saab34]

It’s hard to see how the Saab operation will still be alive in the near term.

I guess the next step is, Government working alongside other operators to get the routes back up and running. Perhaps Qantas should hold onto those Q300s!

 

[MooTime]

It’s hard to see how the Saab operation will still be alive in the near term.

I guess the next step is, Government working alongside other operators to get the routes back up and running. Perhaps Qantas should hold onto those Q300s!

Couldn't the gov just support /subsidise it heavily indefinitely?

I never fly regional, but I can't imagine we in this great land could manage without little planes connecting all towns.

Gov blow so much money everywhere but this id be up for.

 

[jrfsp]

Couldn't the gov just support /subsidise it heavily indefinitely?

I never fly regional, but I can't imagine we in this great land could manage without little planes connecting all towns.

Gov blow so much money everywhere but this id be up for.

Regional Australia needs affordable air transport if we want to maintain viable communities.
Broadly speaking transport should be funded by the state government, let’s not forget the capital city transport networks receive huge government subsidies and that’s before we get into road infrastructure etc.

Having a national regional operator theoretically should offer a better scale of economic viability than one in each state - but that still requires a professional operator- which Rex hasn’t been with the jet fiasco.

In the days before mass air travel the commonwealth used to run interstate trains under “commonwealth railways” before it was privatised and turned into tourist trains.

 

[p--and--t]

Regional Australia needs affordable air transport if we want to maintain viable communities.
Broadly speaking transport should be funded by the state government, let’s not forget the capital city transport networks receive huge government subsidies and that’s before we get into road infrastructure etc.

Having a national regional operator theoretically should offer a better scale of economic viability than one in each state - but that still requires a professional operator- which Rex hasn’t been with the jet fiasco.

In the days before mass air travel the commonwealth used to run interstate trains under “commonwealth railways” before it was privatised and turned into tourist trains.

Telcos have arrangements with gov to run 000 services etc. Not sure why similar contracts couldn’t be set up via tender process with airlines to operate regional routes that are non viable commercially.

 

[yachty]

Telcos have arrangements with gov to run 000 services etc. Not sure why similar contracts couldn’t be set up via tender process with airlines to operate regional routes that are non viable commercially.

Such a thing already exists and is managed by the states

 

[HS-TQE]

States already subsidise the essential regional flying covered by either QFLink, REX, Skytrans, Nexus or Link.

I'd suspect Skytrans and Link may be waiting for the liquidation call before salvaging some of the useful Saabs for their own operations and/or bid for the state government contracts that may be vacated by REX regional should that division be liquidated.

 

[Saab34]

It’s pretty much just a Sydney based airline anyway, I think all the doom and gloom around regional areas in big trouble if they disappear are a bit overblown, I wasn’t aware how little the network was.

The QLD, WA, SA charter ops can be offloaded fairly quickly to another operator. Might cost the governments a bit more but it can be saved.

I can see Link jumping on many of these Saab routes from Sydney if they can secure a few more aircraft in a liquidation. Some of these routes are fairly pointless like CNS-TSV.

 

[jakeseven7]

Warms up the popcorn

Sure this will be insightful cough not.

 

[33kft]

I know I'm calling this early but, what a disappointment. There was no point to the narrative?

Looks like the ABC journos got a decent junket out of it, at least. Wonder who they flew with?