Rex to fly between Australian capital cities

[Saab34]

According to reports on another forum, the current REX board has at least two months to accept LKH's "board spill" request (also known as S249D). The REX board could easily hold this after their financials announcement, thus slowing LKH's "attempt" to get his old job back.

Saying that, any resemblance of a "united" REX board is well and truly gone (It's almost as bad as the old VA 1.0 board) as the media is likely to probe further on the inner workings of REX.

Sounds like Endeavour Drinks and all the knifing that went on late last year

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I’m not sure Rex is even trying? No advertisements anywhere that i’ve seen to try and boost loads. Barely a half-hearted attempt for a FF program… which is months late, and only offering a few of the benefits out of the multiple listed (I didn’t even get a ‘welcome’ email on reaching Emerald or Diamond), no recognition of status, can’t follow up on promotions such as bonus points for paying by mastercard.

Service on board is great… if you’re one of the 7 upgraded for free into the business cabin. Not so much if you’ve actually paid!

If they fail, they won’t be able to blame the public for not supporting them, or for the other airlines muscling in to protect their turf. They just don’t do anything to help themselves!

 

[nonrev-jez]

I’m not sure Rex is even trying? No advertisements anywhere that i’ve seen to try and boost loads. Barely a half-hearted attempt for a FF program… which is months late, and only offering a few of the benefits out of the multiple listed (I didn’t even get a ‘welcome’ email on reaching Emerald or Diamond), no recognition of status, can’t follow up on promotions such as bonus points for paying by mastercard.

Service on board is great… if you’re one of the 7 upgraded for free into the business cabin. Not so much if you’ve actually paid!

If they fail, they won’t be able to blame the public for not supporting them, or for the other airlines muscling in to protect their turf. They just don’t do anything to help themselves!

You’re 100% correct. Rex have squandered the opportunity. It’s unbelievable that even the most basic of marketing campaigns were not established, the FF program is utterly disappointing and poorly developed.

Shareholders should be outraged at the archaic business practices from middle and senior management.

 

[Saab34]

The issue is and they have said this before, they don’t believe in paying million dollar or high salaries. Most Rex executives are on much lower base salaries compared to industry average, 200-400k.

Talent with half a brain won’t work for those numbers, they have a huge upside of being Sydney based, crazy amount of talent in all parts within the basin, but this talent won’t work for these salaries.

I also think culture is at play here. Rex has really old school ways of working behind the scenes, many people in all sorts of have apparently been working there for decades.

They basically need a cleanout.

 

[nonrev-jez]

The issue is and they have said this before, they don’t believe in paying million dollar or high salaries. Most Rex executives are on much lower base salaries compared to industry average, 200-400k.

Talent with half a brain won’t work for those numbers, they have a huge upside of being Sydney based, crazy amount of talent in all parts within the basin, but this talent won’t work for these salaries.

I also think culture is at play here. Rex has really old school ways of working behind the scenes, many people in all sorts of have apparently been working there for decades.

They basically need a cleanout.

It doesn’t take an executive on $1mil+ salary to work out an email marketing campaign.

The work experience kid knows that!

 

[N860CR]

You’re 100% correct. Rex have squandered the opportunity. It’s unbelievable that even the most basic of marketing campaigns were not established, the FF program is utterly disappointing and poorly developed.

Shareholders should be outraged at the archaic business practices from middle and senior management.

Try having a read of their business plan PowerPoint presentation if you can find it. The company doesn’t have the talent or ability to operate in the market they’ve chosen to go after. The entire plan was based on Virgin never recovering.

 

[Saab34]

The entire plan was based on Virgin never recovering.

And Rex wouldn’t have lasted long if another Virgin or JetBlue like operator started up ops soon after if VA did go. Rex would be toast.

 

[33kft]

They might be too busy battling each other for control of the board to consider the finer details like marketing and profit

 

[Harrison_133]

They've finally launched an advertising campaign, inspired by a 1950s movie. And somehow we joke about Rex being stuck in the past...

Rex Airlines’ new ad agency, T&PmAustralia, is hoping a reference to a Hollywood Golden Age movie couple from the 1950s will encourage Rex travellers to rethink their relationship with rival airlines.

Rex Airlines today launched ‘Your Rex’ campaign, ‘An Airfare to Remember’ in reference to the 1957 movie, An Affair to Remember, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

Below is an example of the campaign. A marketing campaign is definitely needed, but this just feels uninspired. It still looks like something they've thrown together in Word, and I don't think the tongue in cheek caption reflects the Rex brand at all. I can't help feeling they've missed the mark yet again with this one...



Source: New ad agency pitches 60-year-old movie in Rex digital campaign - Travel Weekly

 

[Saab34]

will encourage Rex travellers to rethink their relationship with rival airlines.

They need to move on from this narrative. Nobody is rethinking anything, Rex has a tiny network that doesn’t connect anything close to what the rivals offer.

So let’s rethink our relationship with Virgin who offer 8 flights a day MEL-PER with Rex who offer 5 weekly red eye.

Rex has a very long way to go if they want people to take them seriously. Price is why many will end up on Rex.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

They need to move on from this narrative. Nobody is rethinking anything, Rex has a tiny network that doesn’t connect anything close to what the rivals offer.

So let’s rethink our relationship with Virgin who offer 8 flights a day MEL-PER with Rex who offer 5 weekly red eye.

Rex has a very long way to go if they want people to take them seriously. Price is why many will end up on Rex.

But seriously, who *needs* 8 flights a day MEL-PER?

Rex is not aimed at the business market. They should be competing on price, against VA economy and JQ in general.

Rex has several advantages… they leave on time. They have good prices. You can get a seat at a great walk-up price when other networks have extensive delays. They offer full service baggage with a snack on board.

rex doesn’t need to tell us ‘flight times don’t form part of your contract with us’, like VA does every single time you call.

 

[p--and--t]

Seems to me REX are aiming to fill the middle ground between QF and JQ that VA professed to be aiming for but VA seem to be missing the mark.

As a domestic Y flyer I want a reliable on time departure and luggage (and a snack on a flight over 2 hours) without extra fees. REX often seems a better fit than VA.

Admittedly not so frequent services or convenient departure times as yet, but give them time, continued keen pricing and better management....and maybe.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Seems to me REX are aiming to fill the middle ground between QF and JQ that VA professed to be aiming for but VA seem to be missing the mark.

As a domestic Y flyer I want a reliable on time departure and luggage (and a snack on a flight over 2 hours) without extra fees. REX often seems a better fit than VA.

Admittedly not so frequent services or convenient departure times as yet, but give them time, continued keen pricing and better management....and maybe.

Are the last sentence… this is the thing I can’t work out!

Last year when VA had terrible on time performance a colleague’s 4pm flight was cancelled by VA, with the next flight being offered at 9am the next morning, Thankfully she knew about rex, and purchased a walk-up - 30 mins before boarding - for $169 and arrived in SYD an hour later than the original VA flight. The rex flight wasn’t full.

Given the vast number of displaced pax, and flights only being offered the next day… how wasn’t rex full?? (If I was rex I’d be standing at the check-in counters pointing pax to my airline!)

 

[Must...Fly!]

Are the last sentence… this is the thing I can’t work out!

Last year when VA had terrible on time performance a colleague’s 4pm flight was cancelled by VA, with the next flight being offered at 9am the next morning, Thankfully she knew about rex, and purchased a walk-up - 30 mins before boarding - for $169 and arrived in SYD an hour later than the original VA flight. The rex flight wasn’t full.

Given the vast number of displaced pax, and flights only being offered the next day… how wasn’t rex full?? (If I was rex I’d be standing at the check-in counters pointing pax to my airline!)

I agree with pretty much everything you say, and it really highlights how badly Rex is managed at the corporate level.

 

[eastwest101]

I agree with pretty much everything you say, and it really highlights how badly Rex is managed at the corporate level.

Agree - this is a business that potentially had all the right ingredients for success (good staff, aircraft and on-time performance and a good regional network) while both Virgin and Qantas were busy self-sabotaging with lack of capacity, sky-high airfares, extensive delays, lost baggage, "not match fit", canceling flights willy nilly, etc - Rex had nearly everything except competent management so they couldn't capitalize on their competitor's blunders.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Agree - this is a business that potentially had all the right ingredients for success (good staff, aircraft and on-time performance and a good regional network) while both Virgin and Qantas were busy self-sabotaging with lack of capacity, sky-high airfares, extensive delays, lost baggage, "not match fit", canceling flights willy nilly, etc - Rex had nearly everything except competent management so they couldn't capitalize on their competitor's blunders.

But REX had John Sharp!

 

[RSVKanga]

They've finally launched an advertising campaign, inspired by a 1950s movie. And somehow we joke about Rex being stuck in the past...

Below is an example of the campaign. A marketing campaign is definitely needed, but this just feels uninspired. It still looks like something they've thrown together in Word, and I don't think the tongue in cheek caption reflects the Rex brand at all. I can't help feeling they've missed the mark yet again with this one...

View attachment 398784

Source: New ad agency pitches 60-year-old movie in Rex digital campaign - Travel Weekly

They’re getting real desperate. How long do Rex have left running?

 

[Saab34]

Given the vast number of displaced pax, and flights only being offered the next day… how wasn’t rex full?? (If I was rex I’d be standing at the check-in counters pointing pax to my airline!)

Probably many Virgin pax are simply tied to corporate accounts, Rex isn’t on any platforms that I know about. Only a small percentage who are really need to get home will take the initiative to shell out a Rex fare and chase up the company later.

I’ve had mixed ‘engagements’ you could say with employers and dealing with rescheduling travel out of my pocket. The simple reason is I don’t want to spend the night in Mascot and I’d like to get home!

One company got cranky at me as the contract still looked after me, albeit delayed significantly. One other employer took ages to reimburse me and it had to go through stupid amount of hoops to get it done (and top asx company also).

 

[eastwest101]

Probably many Virgin pax are simply tied to corporate accounts, Rex isn’t on any platforms that I know about. Only a small percentage who are really need to get home will take the initiative to shell out a Rex fare and chase up the company later.

I’ve had mixed ‘engagements’ you could say with employers and dealing with rescheduling travel out of my pocket. The simple reason is I don’t want to spend the night in Mascot and I’d like to get home!

One company got cranky at me as the contract still looked after me, albeit delayed significantly. One other employer took ages to reimburse me and it had to go through stupid amount of hoops to get it done (and top asx company also).

Your experience may have been common for other people as well, the funny thing is that the listed ASX company you refer to in your third paragraph was also possibly pissing and moaning about high airfares and unreliable schedules of the 2 major airlines in Australia....

The accountants and corporate travel people in my company are fine with Rex, but obviously your mileage did vary.

 

[HS-TQE]

My apologies if this was posted earlier, according to the FY23 reports, REX lost $ 25 million on their combined 737/Saab RPT operations, and Training Ops lost $ 2 million on their ops for the same period.

I'd suspect this may be presented at the LKH "board leadership spill" when that eventuates.

Edit: Replaced NJE with Training Ops