I wouldn't be surprised if the two large operators QF and VA haven't over saturated all the markets in reaction to the Covid angst travel spike. It might be a lean 12 months ahead for everyone, which may be why AJ has pulled the pin earlier as public pressure mounts on all aspects of QF operations over the last few years. This might play well for Bonza and Rex as they (QF group and VA) pull back flights and leave some holes in the non-peak times. I heard anecdotal evidence that Perth loads for QF and VA are less than half, and have seen Syd/Mel loads with most passengers with rows to themselves on these operators. Haven't traveled with Rex for ages so can't comment on them. This is probably the real reason QF has high cancellation rates on this sector, yield management, rather than other operational issues, have to keep those slots filled with scheduled flights so no-one can argue their use, then cancel the flight and merge it when it's not profitable. Hopefully the government looks at 'used' slots rather than 'scheduled' slots when they redistribute.