Rex to fly between Australian capital cities

[MooTime]

This was no secret... You could see them talking about it in the AFR. The question for REX is that now VA had survived, where to now?

Thanks. And one could argue VA come out stronger than before, not necessarily in terms of pax, but simplified fleet, no bad leases / contracts, less staff etc etc.

Hope Rex don't fold from this 737 venture cos regional would be the big loser.

 

[HS-TQE]

This was no secret... You could see them talking about it in the AFR. The question for REX is that now VA had survived, where to now?

Their Singaporean consortium owners (PE owners (PAG) + their businessman buddies) are behind the 8 ball too, recently announcing 6 new 737s (on top of the 2 coming from the disposed VA 738s).

 

[Saab34]

Hope Rex don't fold from this 737 venture cos regional would be the big loser.

It would be a bit like when Masters Home Improvement collapsed. The profitable part Home Timber Hardware, sold off, and the unprofitable ambitious big box part of the business, wound up.

Would always be a buyer for the Saab operation due to being profitable as a stand-alone operation, with no debt/contracts.

 

[Scarlett]

Would always be a buyer for the Saab operation due to being profitable as a stand-alone operation, with no debt/contracts.

If this comes to pass, I hope the Hazelton or Kendall families are still in the flying game...

 

[dajop]

If this comes to pass, I hope the Hazelton or Kendall families are still in the flying game...

Probably be a sound strategic investment for a PE firm, such as Bain

 

[HS-TQE]

Probably be a sound strategic investment for a PE firm, such as Bain

Would be a good 'asset sell-off' for Singaporean PE firm PAG if they 'bail' from REX

As for the regional ops, even it may be a 'sound' investment for Bain's PE rival 777 Partners. Instant AOC right there to compliment their proposed Bonza 737 ops.

 

[Eastwick20]

So I thought I'd give REX a whirl ( for a leisure trip ) and flew MEL/SYD/MEL, up Saturday afternoon and back Sunday morning this past weekend.

Booked Saturday morning literally a few hours before departure got $159.85 return

Interestingly enough both outbound and return were pretty much full, though I guess everybody had paid near enough what I paid..... which wasn't much!

On time departure both ways , Cabin Crew absolutely lovely . complimentary tea , coffee , water and snack if you wanted it.

Having tried them I actually hope they succeed, Their offering is pretty good ( minus the frequent flyer side of things)

Would I use them again? Absolutely!

 

[dajop]

Absolutely!

Uh oh. Not a phrase that sits well with Australian commercial aviation.

From 2001:

 

[PineappleSkip]

Brought a wee tear to my eye that did. Last flew them September 12 2001

 

[dajop]

Brought a wee tear to my eye that did. Last flew them September 12 2001

Not sure if my last flight on AN (Mk 1) counts - it was on September 13 2001 - on a Hazelton flight (which of course was fully owned by AN) to GFF (so not completely OT for this thread ), and wouldn't be surprised if the plane is still flying to GFF, 20 years on. But I also did a Mk II in December, but not quite the same.

 

[AIRwin]

Looks like QF has also dropped to $119

QF back up to $194 for BNE-MEL

 

[Saab34]

Loads terrible again. They might as well not fly between Monday to Thursday.

 

[jakeseven7]

A friend flew Rexy Jet on Sunday said the seating was really squishy (in Y), was adamant was worse than when VA1 had them….

Rex didn’t change the seats at all right?

 

[AIRwin]

A friend flew Rexy Jet on Sunday said the seating was really squishy (in Y), was adamant was worse than when VA1 had them….

Rex didn’t change the seats at all right?

Has your friend put on weight?

 

[jakeseven7]

Has your friend put on weight?

Opposite in fact!

I said I didn’t think they’d done anything with the seats. They were in row 16…

 

[Saab34]

They have removed the Virgin headrest covers yet? I heard something about that happening during all the downtime during lockdown?

 

[HS-TQE]

They have removed the Virgin headrest covers yet? I heard something about that happening during all the downtime during lockdown?

Many (if not all) of REX's 737s were reported to have Grey headcovers (replacing the VA Red and Purple) for standard Economy. Pretty much the only reminder of Virgin is the purple divider.

 

[Melburnian1]

That would be the logical and the economically rational way for things to pan out (especially now that Qantas has a 20% blocking stake in Alliance). Unfortunately in the airline industry reason/logic and good business sense seems a bit elusive. Surely even Bain can see the logic in this, sure they want to be a B737 single fleet airline, but when they want to sell it off won't it be an easier sell if they have a co-operative partner to fly the stuff thats not big enough to justify a B737 service? At the moment why would you buy Virgin? Its a shopworn brand in an industry that destroys capital with a larger established competitor (the Qantas Group) that has no unique seling point, why buy Virgin when you could lease your own narrow body jets and set up the business from the ground up without all the legacy issues?

Pretty much everyone in the industry can see this, and its as plain as the nose on your face, except for the upper management of VA2/Bain and Rex who just can't quite connect the dots yet.....

On Saturday 4 December 2021, looks like ZL9, the 0700 hours SYD - MEL has 96 whY and 4 J passengers, making for a load factor of 56.8 per cent.

It's better than a lot of other ZL flights but ZL must be losing millions on its B738 flights, though leasing costs for aircraft will have dropped.

But then again, QF overall is extremely unprofitable, and so must Bain's VA be.

Agree with you and others that rationality must prevail. One doesn't have to work in aviation to see this.

In other Australian sectors - manufacturing is one - irrational behaviour is not commonplace. Yet in this aviation subsector it's everyday. Crazy!

 

[jb747]

Agree with you and others that rationality must prevail. One doesn't have to work in aviation to see this.

Why do you say 'must'? The public sector, whose pay has not been affected by any of this, get to make the decisions, and I can't see why they'd consider 'must'. 'Might'. 'In the fullness of time'. 'After due consideration'. But not 'must'.

 

[Melburnian1]

Well ZL9 went out with just 46 in Y this morning at 0700 on the SYD-MEL slot. VA808 at the same time only had a couple of empty seats.
I just can’t see that time slot being persisted with unless they have a ace up their sleeve

You're correct, as this morning from SYD to MEL, there aren't any Regional Express flights. Departures are only at 1230, 1430 and 1730.

It's holidays for uni students and senior school students (i.e. HSC/VCE etc.) but they don't want to travel at 0700, bleary eyed from drinking all night.