Rex to fly between Australian capital cities

[jase05]

I know the other airlines are running reduced frequencies but hopefully with most borders all open we can see some normality. If things don’t then absolutely I’d have to consider ZL from ADL as they would be the only one capable of getting me to MEL at a decent time.
Currently we have JQ as the first flight of the day at 0750 (they are on my banned list)
QF at 0935 and the first VA at 1235. All of those get me in to MEL too late, the ZL 0600 is perfect for me and many others I’d presume.

 

[Melburnian1]

I know the other airlines are running reduced frequencies but hopefully with most borders all open we can see some normality. If things don’t then absolutely I’d have to consider ZL from ADL as they would be the only one capable of getting me to MEL at a decent time.
Currently we have JQ as the first flight of the day at 0750 (they are on my banned list)
QF at 0935 and the first VA at 1235. All of those get me in to MEL too late, the ZL 0600 is perfect for me and many others I’d presume.

So many are reluctant to travel because State Premiers have us nervous.

With these individuals willing and ready to reimpose border closedowns for a single or very few 'case(s)', why would one risk travelling interstate and being unable to return to home base?

 

[milehighclub]

QF at 0935 and the first VA at 1235.

QF has 6am flights from the 29th March and onwards.

 

[jase05]

QF has 6am flights from the 29th March and onwards.

Nice, it’s an absolute PITA currently

 

[AIRwin]

QF at 0935 and the first VA at 1235.

VA is reinstating morning flights at 09:35 (from 8 March), 7:05 (from 22 March), 6:40 (from 29 March) and 6:05 (from 9 April)...

 

[jase05]

VA is reinstating morning flights at 09:35 (from 8 March), 7:05 (from 22 March), 6:40 (from 29 March) and 6:05 (from 9 April)...

Thanks, is there any way to find this information for other routes aswell?

 

[milehighclub]

Thanks, is there any way to find this information for other routes aswell?

29th March is the change to the Northern Summer schedule so it may apply to most routes, but in saying that, with COVID around, any trends are probably out the door.

 

[Melburnian1]

QF has 6am flights from the 29th March and onwards.

On more than one route, '0600 hours' departures seem to have been one of the big 'losers' from coronavirus, demonstrating the decline in business travel.

Some have busy lives but getting up at 0300 in a city to 'make' such an early morning flight has never thrilled. REX is wise to have its first departure at 0700 not 0600.

 

[eastwest101]

On more than one route, '0600 hours' departures seem to have been one of the big 'losers' from coronavirus, demonstrating the decline in business travel.

Some have busy lives but getting up at 0300 in a city to 'make' such an early morning flight has never thrilled. REX is wise to have its first departure at 0700 not 0600.

Also don't forget with almost no international travel at the moment some people who absolutely had to get the 6am departures to get to either MEL, SYD or BNE airports for international connections onwards are also absent, so as well as business demand being lower and the state border closures there is an international connection to this as well. I expect a lot of the domestic crew overnights that would be operating early morning flights were also cut back as overnighting crew were deemed a luxury that airlines couldn't afford. In other words - unless its a crew base you didn't see as many 6am departures as we did pre Covid-19.

 

[henrus]

I can't wait to hear from someone who flew on today's services.

Sure it was the first day of operations but from what I've heard/seen online; the onboard food was limited (excluding the cupcakes and bubbles), the wifi or streaming entertainment was non-existent and the aircraft cabin still featured economy X branding.

Rex claimed they would make an investment but it's clear it's been cost-cutting from the start. They then get grumpy when Qantas operates on their precious regional routes but have no problem launching budget fares on routes to ADL and OOL starting next month. Some of the SYD-OOL flights next month start at $240 (and that's on Jetstar) but here they come with a media embargoed release to drop thousands of fares for $80. If this is how they want to play then I'm all for Qantas dropping dirt-cheap fares on all of Rex's regional routes, at this stage they deserve what they get.

 

[milehighclub]

and the aircraft cabin still featured economy X branding.

They had a post on Instagram asking if they should have "Our heart is in the country" in orange, blue or both. I wanted to respond, who cares, why not rebrand the inside of your clearly very Virgin looking aircraft.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Not surprised they were leery of launching flights to BNE.

QLD have said in about 6 weeks they will not be shutting their borders again (hmmm really?) as by then the most vulnerable will be protected

I remember that no more closures announcement, followed a few days later by a preemptive announcement they were 'closing' to NZ. Pffft.

cheers skip

 

[AIRwin]

Not surprised they were leery of launching flights to BNE.

But OOL is also in QLD...

 

[Melburnian1]

They had a post on Instagram asking if they should have "Our heart is in the country" in orange, blue or both. I wanted to respond, who cares, why not rebrand the inside of your clearly very Virgin looking aircraft.

Many passengers are price sensitive and will welcome the competition from a third player, rather than a cosy duopoly.

Internal branding/liveries are not this large sector of the travelling public's #1 concern.

 

[PineappleSkip]

But OOL is also in QLD...

Yes, but at least there is usually the exception for transits to Northern NSW, and I can imagine a lot of Sydneysiders would be plumping for Northern NSW holidays rather than Qld.

Thinking those prices and (?) frequencies would be better suited to the leisure market also.

Cheers skip

 

[HS-TQE]

Not surprised that REX backpedalled at 'sticking' to the Golden Triangle and looked at secondary/leisure jet routes considering their 'questionable' business plan largely relied on VA going into liquidation.

 

[Mattg]

They had a post on Instagram asking if they should have "Our heart is in the country" in orange, blue or both. I wanted to respond, who cares, why not rebrand the inside of your clearly very Virgin looking aircraft.

Quite a few people posted similar comments on the equivalent Rex Facebook post, but they were all promptly deleted! (See here)

 

[Melburnian1]

I can't wait to hear from someone who flew on today's services.

Sure it was the first day of operations but from what I've heard/seen online; the onboard food was limited (excluding the cupcakes and bubbles), the wifi or streaming entertainment was non-existent and the aircraft cabin still featured economy X branding.

Rex claimed they would make an investment but it's clear it's been cost-cutting from the start. They then get grumpy when Qantas operates on their precious regional routes but have no problem launching budget fares on routes to ADL and OOL starting next month. Some of the SYD-OOL flights next month start at $240 (and that's on Jetstar) but here they come with a media embargoed release to drop thousands of fares for $80. If this is how they want to play then I'm all for Qantas dropping dirt-cheap fares on all of Rex's regional routes, at this stage they deserve what they get.

Given QFd's higher cost base overall with its substantial head office staff numbers (though fewer than 18 months ago) and layers of management, it's hardly in QF shareholders' interest to rack up losses on rural routes competing with ZL.

QF is losing big dollars on a daily basis, with Mr Joyce recently claiming the 'per diem' amount for QFi alone was A$5 million. Comparing its most recent financial statement, this seemed high, but he has the figures.

 

[dajop]

But OOL is also in QLD...

Most of it is, and the bits that count are ...

 

[bcworld]

I'm happy...we decided to book MEL-OOL-MEL for Easter just last week and stumped up $700 each return on VA....ordinarily I would never pay that for this route....but seem to be making more outlandish domestic travel decisions these days.

Logged on to REX just before 9am and instead booked the same days, similar times for $158 return!

The VA freedom fares will be getting popped into Travelbank for use on less Eastery priced flights!