Rex Airlines cuts regional flights blaming pilot, engineer and parts shortages

[red750]

Rex Airlines has blamed pilot, engineer and parts shortages for its decision to cut flights on nine regional routes across four states.  

 

Towns affected from May 1 include Cairns and Bamaga in Far North Queensland; Sydney, Broken Hill and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales; Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Whyalla, Port Lincoln and Ceduna in South Australia; and Melbourne in Victoria.

 

Rex's network strategy general manager Warrick Lodge said the changes were "minor" and affected the company's 61-strong fleet of Saab 340 Turboprop planes.

 

Read more here.

 

 

 

[old man emu]

"These adjustments are necessitated by the chronic shortage of airline professionals, particularly pilots and engineers"

 

And who's fault is that? For nearly fifty years Australian airlines invested in education, especially in engineers. That allowed for the expansion of their fleets, and for the replacement of loyal staff who were retiring (and natural attrition). But then the "bums on seats" mob overrode the very people who had made the airlines safe and the services reliable. How many engineers could QANTAS have trained if the Leprechaun didn't dig so deeply into the company's coffers to line his own? 

 

It's one thing to post big profits this year and next, but to remain viable year in and year out, a company must weigh up profitability versus sustainability. There's a lot contained in the adage "moderation in all things".

[Area-51]

Well legally some pilots will not be covered under insurance policies due to their "voluntary" participation in a medical experiment... just saying, not a political statement, just a fact; its a clause in most all professional and life insurance policies - voluntary participation in a medical experiment automatically cancels the insurance policy; check it out for yourselves 🤷🏼‍♂️

[spacesailor]

Also the fact they kept wages as low as they could , making staff , go were the pay-scale was a match for their professionalism. 

I found a neibour was an X Qantas Engineer,  that was Cut from their work-force.

Now , works for ' himself, designing, building  Electro/Hydraulic " trick cars ". That can jump off the ground .

Must pay well !.

spacesailor

[Area-51]

1 hour ago, spacesailor said:

Also the fact they kept wages as low as they could , making staff , go were the pay-scale was a match for their professionalism. 

I found a neibour was an X Qantas Engineer,  that was Cut from their work-force.

Now , works for ' himself, designing, building  Electro/Hydraulic " trick cars ". That can jump off the ground .

Must pay well !.

spacesailor

It does pay really well if you are prepared to put up with everything that culture is going to throw at you regarding the many types of customer... lots of disposable capital just waiting be spent on senseless stuff in the auto world.

[facthunter]

SAAB 340's have been around a long time. It's hard to make money on feeder services.  The planes don't carry enough passengers to staff ratio and seat mile costs are well above what you get on capital city routes. Passengers make the comparison and whinge but that's a fact of life. Some of them are a bit OFF and hard to reason with and probably getting worse.  Nev

[spacesailor]

My nephew has jumped ship ( airline ) from '' Easyjet '' to '' Emirates airlines '' .

hopefully with a big pay rise . not just a bigger plane .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

I had a lot of mates go there.  Nev

[BrendAn]

7 hours ago, old man emu said:

"These adjustments are necessitated by the chronic shortage of airline professionals, particularly pilots and engineers"

 

And who's fault is that? For nearly fifty years Australian airlines invested in education, especially in engineers. That allowed for the expansion of their fleets, and for the replacement of loyal staff who were retiring (and natural attrition). But then the "bums on seats" mob overrode the very people who had made the airlines safe and the services reliable. How many engineers could QANTAS have trained if the Leprechaun didn't dig so deeply into the company's coffers to line his own? 

 

It's one thing to post big profits this year and next, but to remain viable year in and year out, a company must weigh up profitability versus sustainability. There's a lot contained in the adage "moderation in all things".

exactly the same as that clown that took over auspost a few years ago and sacked everyone to save money. auspost went downhill and he left with millions in bonus and payouts. and donated a couple of million of his ill gotten gains to a muslim musuem.

i blame the goverment , they let all these people rape australia because it lines their pockets too. chairman dan just cancelled the airport rail link after all his hype about it. so skybus and macquarie group will continue to make billions from tullamarine airport. bit off track sorry.

[facthunter]

Really. how many people would go the  airport in a train? They don't come from one place.  Carry a bit of baggage. They come from everywhere and usually dropped of by a friend or park long term.  Nev

[BrendAn]

3 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Really. how many people would go the  airport in a train? They don't come from one place.  Carry a bit of baggage. They come from everywhere and usually dropped of by a friend or park long term.  Nev

i would imagine a lot of people would use the train if the sydney airport rail is anything to go by. hasn't perth just built an airport rail as well.

[BrendAn]

sydney airport link conveyed 27 million passengers during 2019 and now that melbourne is australias largest city you would think it would be similar.

[BrendAn]

back to rex. are saab 340s common over here. i used to fly all over wa and dash 8s and fokker 50s were the most common planes i flew on. the only low wings i went in were an embrea and a fairchild that looked like a pipe with wings.

Edited April 25, 2023 by BrendAn

[facthunter]

When some lines are down (repairs) they substitute buses in Melbourne and you are hardly inconvenienced at the time. A lot of people have a reason to go to the centre of Melbourne and they do it most days if they work there. 9 to 5. and the suburban rail reflects that purpose. It radiates out from Flinders st and Spencer st and they don't carry the sort of luggage people often take when going overseas on planes to and from Planes which arrive at all times of the day and night and can often be diverted, delayed or cancelled. .Nev

[BrendAn]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

When some lines are down (repairs) they substitute buses in Melbourne and you are hardly inconvenienced at the time. A lot of people have a reason to go to the centre of Melbourne and they do it most days if they work there. 9 to 5. and the suburban rail reflects that purpose. It radiates out from Flinders st and Spencer st and they don't carry the sort of luggage people often take when going overseas on planes to and from Planes which arrive at all times of the day and night and can often be diverted, delayed or cancelled. .Nev

i think your clutching at straws because i made a negative comment about dan

[facthunter]

It wasn't in my mind actually and I'm certainly not clutching at straws. Rail is not necessarily the best way in many areas. I do get involved frequently taking people to and from Tullamarine even now and your pickup time s have to relate to the changeable  times of arrival and departure. which is inevitable particularly these days with Aviation.. The large numbers using it in Sydney doesn't necessarily mean Melbourne will be the same and there may be lines of more priority than the Airport. Melbourne's LEVEL crossings are  a big issue that has to be addressed and some areas don't have good rail connections. Sydney always had a lot more underground rail than Melbourne and arguably better than Melbourne's dating back  to just after the WW2.  Nev

Edited April 26, 2023 by facthunter

[BrendAn]

49 minutes ago, facthunter said:

It wasn't in my mind actually and I'm certainly not clutching at straws. Rail is not necessarily the best way in many areas. I do get involved frequently taking people to and from Tullamarine even now and your pickup time s have to relate to the changeable  times of arrival and departure. which is inevitable particularly these days with Aviation.. The large numbers using it in Sydney doesn't necessarily mean Melbourne will be the same and there may be lines of more priority than the Airport. Melbourne's LEVEL crossings are  a big issue that has to be addressed and some areas don't have good rail connections. Sydney always had a lot more underground rail than Melbourne and arguably better than Melbourne's dating back  to just after the WW2.  Nev

i delivered pile cages for 2 years on the rail crossings from the start. bourke rd was the first one. they are a great thing. people have been asking for a rail link since tullamarine was built. there is even a rumour about an underground station already there but i think it might be an urban myth.

[facthunter]

I've heard that. I was around when it was  being built and trained at Tulla on a B727 Before it was opened which was a bit eerie but very convenient. I do doubt that version of things. It's also pretty flat around there and surely it would be better underground if done at all and how much would THAT cost?  I only lived about  8 minutes from the aerodrome then.   Geez How much is land worth at Airport West Now? Nev

Edited April 26, 2023 by facthunter

[spenaroo]

The government confirmed that there was no Terminal already built, and that there was no penalty fees they would need to pay citylink (the toll road to the airport)

funnily enough they confirmed that originally there was one - but it was taken out as part of the tunnel agreements

[facthunter]

Maybe at some stage is was considered but I flew out of Essendon for 6 years before Tulla opened and went past the site every day I went to and from work.. The terminal is very close to the Bulla road.  Nev

[red750]

I have had to drop off and pick up my son a couple of times (pre-Covid), and that's a bit of a nightmare. The multi storey Mint (oops carpark) makes an absolute fortune. I want to rent the space for an hour or less,  not buy the damned thing. And if I was going away, I would not leave my car (old and all as it is) at Midnight Spares (oops, long term carpark). Don't even ask about the Airport Bus.

 

No-one in their right mind would go near the terminals just to watch the planes. If you look at my photos on airport-data.com, you will see most have been taken from Operations Rd towards the tower, but from near the golf course, not the viewing point. Security fence in the way for photos from the viewing point. Near the golf course, the planes have taken off or about to flare for landing, so above the fence. The other location is near the old church on Sunbury Road, on short final for Rwy 16. The viewing area near the roundabout is directly under the flight path, so you only see the belly of the aircraft.

 

 Operations Rd

 

Sunbury Rd

 

[sfGnome]

I may be strange, but I've used the Airport Bus any number of times when coming to Melbourne and it's always seemed like a pretty good system. In Sydney, we (almost) always use the train, because anything is better than driving in Sydney traffic...