Just had to book a colleague home from MEL to SYD tonight. Both QF and VA were full for flights between 4 and 5:30. At the same time, ZL still has seats available at just $79 on its one flight. Still didn't give REX to business though because if their 5pm flight was delayed, they only had one other flight all night and that was 8pm!
It is fair to say, the REX mainline jet operation is in more trouble than the early settlers. They may be able to develop a niche on leisure routes which would mean they would effectively just be replacing Tiger. Not a bad option and it would mean they could differentiate their product a bit and look to move into the ULCC space. Their current strategy (if you could call it that) is doomed.