Originally Posted by
C441
A family friend experienced this in Normanton about 18 months ago. After driving 4 or 5 hours from a cattle property, he arrived comfortably before the required time to see a Rex Saab departing. On check-in he was told that the departing aircraft was indeed his flight. It had departed ahead of schedule as they had a u/s aircraft and the aircraft was needed back at the base to replace it. Rex very kindly offered to put him up at the Normanton Hotel for the (Friday) night; quite an experience for someone who'd only lived in Australia for a few years!
Whilst a one-off event, this may explain one method Rex use to ensure on-time performance!
Personally I find this story hard to believe and probably a bit one sided....
The flights through Normanton are part of the QLD Govt contracted routes so it’s basically impossible to leave early.
I’d guess what actually happened is the aircraft took off before scheduled departure but AFTER checkin had closed, which is 30 min before departure. Checkin closure time is the time to be aware of, not departure time.... Having spent plenty of time in the gulf and cape, pax arriving after checkin closes was a common theme.