Rex to fly between Australian capital cities

[MEL_Traveller]

Wish airlines etc. would stop saying 12am & 12pm, as no such thing & can be confusing for punters, ie. midday or midnight & if midnight, which day ? They should say 11.59am or pm (1159, 2359). Heard of some person who while in Europe, turned up for what he thought was a midnight departure when it was a midday departure.

That is becoming increasingly rare these days... many airlines now list those times as 2359, or 0001. For midday departures I think the 1200 is fine.

The problem still exists though with someone booking a flight on say 1 January which happens to be departing at 0215. Not uncommon for people to think they need to turn up at the airport on the evening of the 1st, rather than the 31st

 

[Mattg]

I think they sold every seat for $39. My old folks purchased one of those seats earlier in the week and only 2 flights were sold out, the next day 4 sold out. The fare prices never went above $39. They got a seat for $39. A few hours later the flight they purchased went sold out.

It looks like yield is down the toilet and it’s just a matter of filling seats and drumming up some business. I think it’s possibly a wise move at the moment.

This breaks pretty much every yield management principle in the book, if true. There's actually a term for it - "high-yield spill". Why sell all seats for $39 (which is likely below cost anyway), then sell out of seats days before the flight is due to depart meaning you don't have any seats available for the business traveller who would have spent $200+ on the day of departure?

It makes no sense, unless Rex either (a) has incompetent yield management, or (b) it's a deliberate strategy to just fill seats at any cost so that more people try the product and the media stops talking about all the empty flights.

 

[Melburnian1]

Most of those carriers either had a form of government assistance to keep the flights ongoing, or is wholly government owned and subsidised. Qantas had very minimal financial assistance from the government (the minimal funding from the government used towards operating largely intermittent charters).

I'm sure that if QF (or VA) had ongoing assistance from the Feds to operate short haul and long haul international flights continuously, they would've continued to do so. Just like UA, DL, PR, SQ and others have continued to do so with their taxpayer funded government handouts.

PR doesn't appear to have received any government assistance that I can easily find. It's privately owned.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

PR doesn't appear to have received any government assistance that I can easily find. It's privately owned.

Philippine gov't promises airlines $14.5mn in loans

Several daily Operator News updates covering all Operator Route Network changes, strategic fleet developments and aircraft orders, start-ups and bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions and partnerships and alliances.

www.ch-aviation.com

Not talking huge sums though!

 

[Saab34]

Why sell all seats for $39 (which is likely below cost anyway), then sell out of seats days before the flight is due to depart meaning you don't have any seats available for the business traveller who would have spent $200+ on the day of departure?

I think the issue here is that $200 day of departure person does not exist. I guess 168 seats or whatever it is at $39, otherwise back to April and March Ops, which was 10-20 per flight.

I guess that’s an extra 60-70k pax on the route this month.

It really appears that want those pax to return in the future. That’s what it’s all about I guess.

Tiger did something similar on launch however not as heavy as it appears Rex is doing. Remember those $9.95 fares network wide.

 

[Saab34]

The problem still exists though with someone booking a flight on say 1 January which happens to be departing at 0215. Not uncommon for people to think they need to turn up at the airport on the evening of the 1st, rather than the 31st

My old folks did that with one of those SQ midnight departures from Melbourne. Only cost them about $1500 to get it fixed as the flight left the day before

 

[Mattg]

I think the issue here is that $200 day of departure person does not exist. I guess 168 seats or whatever it is at $39, otherwise back to April and March Ops, which was 10-20 per flight.

I guess that’s an extra 60-70k pax on the route this month.

It really appears that want those pax to return in the future. That’s what it’s all about I guess.

Tiger did something similar on launch however not as heavy as it appears Rex is doing. Remember those $9.95 fares network wide.

Unless Rex's cost base is ridiculously low (which I guess is possible), I doubt they would be breaking even if even every seat was occupied, if they are all sold at a fare of $39.

But at least they're closer to breaking even than they would be if only 20 seats were sold at $39.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Rex ... (a) has incompetent yield management,

That's this punter's punt. Not so much incompetent but systems/processes not sophisticated enough. Hopefully a learning event for them.

I did wonder if QF group is awake to their systems and tricking them. When I looked yesterday afternoon JQ were offering $30 seats on its 6.00 am flight (but way higher price for later slights).

Cheers skip

 

[jakeseven7]

That's this punter's punt. Not so much incompetent but systems/processes not sophisticated enough. Hopefully a learning event for them.

I did wonder if QF group is awake to their systems and tricking them. When I looked yesterday afternoon JQ were offering $30 seats on its 6.00 am flight (but way higher price for later slights).

Cheers skip

So......?

 

[Mattg]

That's this punter's punt. Not so much incompetent but systems/processes not sophisticated enough. Hopefully a learning event for them.

I did wonder if QF group is awake to their systems and tricking them. When I looked yesterday afternoon JQ were offering $30 seats on its 6.00 am flight (but way higher price for later slights).

Cheers skip

I'm a bit confused - are you suggesting that Rex's yield management is directly linking its available fares to Jetstar's prices?

I would've thought the $30 fares on the 6am flight would be because nobody wants to fly at 6am.

 

[Melburnian1]

I would've thought the $30 fares on the 6am flight would be because nobody wants to fly at 6am.

Too small a sample, but a couple of times I've looked at various airlines' 0600 hours flights on SYD - MEL v.v. and found not many booked. Rising in the suburbs at 0300-0400 on a cold night is not favoured if avoidable.

 

[aikman]

It makes no sense, unless Rex either (a) has incompetent yield management, or (b) it's a deliberate strategy to just fill seats at any cost so that more people try the product and the media stops talking about all the empty flights.

They are probably trying the Groupon business model. Instead of paying for advertising, use the marketing budget to get people to try your product at a cheap price instead and hope they come back another time and pay full price.

 

[PineappleSkip]

I would've thought the $30 fares on the 6am flight would be because nobody wants to fly at 6am.

Yes, you're probably right. It was interesting that the JQ and Rex crack of dawn fares were outliers, QF was $200. I did indeed wonder if Rex's systems/processes looked at cheapest fare of the day. However having looked a bit further I don't think so. Just looking at next Sunday MEL-SYD, also looking pretty well booked, they seem to be selling out cheap buckets at busy times as you would expect. So I think I'd give my speculation brain fart status.

Midweek next week there's $39 every flight seats on Tuesday and Wednesday, but their pricing suggests they are selling well next weekend, which would confirm the hunch of many that they're capturing the leisure market but not so much the business market.

Cheers skip.

 

[antycbr]

This breaks pretty much every yield management principle in the book, if true. There's actually a term for it - "high-yield spill". Why sell all seats for $39 (which is likely below cost anyway), then sell out of seats days before the flight is due to depart meaning you don't have any seats available for the business traveller who would have spent $200+ on the day of departure?

It makes no sense, unless Rex either (a) has incompetent yield management, or (b) it's a deliberate strategy to just fill seats at any cost so that more people try the product and the media stops talking about all the empty flights.

Im thinking it’s important to stop (b) from happening as people will avoid booking a route that might be cancelled as it kills forward booking. I want to go to King Island late this year from Sydney and ZL are offering decent fares but I’m worried the SYD-MEL sector will get axed and I’ll have to book on VA or QF/JQ and manage the connection.

Post automatically merged: May 16, 2021

Too small a sample, but a couple of times I've looked at various airlines' 0600 hours flights on SYD - MEL v.v. and found not many booked. Rising in the suburbs at 0300-0400 on a cold night is not favoured if avoidable.

Off topic but reminds me of the 0605 QF CBR-ADL service in July… brrrr

 

[Saab34]

6am Mel-Syd runs over the years I’ve had anything from 20 bodies to full. It is probably the most random flight around, always a lottery I’d I get a row to myself or not. Average seems to be about half full.

 

[Melburnian1]

6am Mel-Syd runs over the years I’ve had anything from 20 bodies to full. It is probably the most random flight around, always a lottery I’d I get a row to myself or not. Average seems to be about half full.

Few international connectors these days so that doesn't help numbers at that time of the day. (Sorry for going OT).

 

[milehighclub]

Not sure what next level is about $79.

The first day without a $39 or $79 fare was June 11th. It is showing $119, $139, $149, $158 and a $399 which is $100 more than the $299 advertised J fare next to it. No brainer for that flight! The 14th is also showing $209 and $249.

That is a long weekend too.

 

[Melburnian1]

The first day without a $39 or $79 fare was June 11th. It is showing $119, $139, $149, $158 and a $399 which is $100 more than the $299 advertised next to it. No brainer for that flight! The 14th is also showing $209 and $249.

That is a long weekend too.

I've seen ZL showing so many $39 Y fares on consecutive days I've come to expect it. $119 is even a shock.

 

[AIRwin]

$119 is even a shock.

$119 should be for an entire row of 3...

 

[Melburnian1]

$119 should be for an entire row of 3...

Try what was the 0600 hours, or current 0700 hours for that.

I reckon REX"s base of leisure travellers by and large dislike early rising.