Originally Posted by
MickG0105
So the 33 seater 340 is overkill on many routes and the solution is to go to a 70+ seater. And the plan for the transition to mainline with regional feed is to eviscerate regional. Sounds like it's all coming together nicely.
The way Rex are going they will not have a regional airline in the areas it counts for serious on carriage, that is South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. Their focus on propping up these marginal subsidized routes in Queensland and Western Australia is undoing the airline at it's seams. I say marginal, as I assume the tenders were done based on being profitable when the whole fleet is utilized and you have mass economy of scale with the SAAB. This is the same trap the regionals killed themselves with in the USA, locking into 'subsidized' on carriage from the majors, which when costs increased over time they didn't get out of the situation and operated at a loss even when full.
A few Q400s vying against the encumbent QLink aircraft will not get sufficient patronage, and the operational cost will be well above QLink for the smaller fleet.
From an outside perspective Rex has lost the plot, completely. Even to the point they have still not even tried to engage the pilot group to retain numbers, which is mind blowing to think they are just sitting on their hands trying to recruit themselves out of this, when there are no experienced pilots to recruit. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but it almost seems they will just sit back and take it while they get 'pillaged' to death.
OK, but they don't own them- their problem is people leaving. That's not how slavery works...
The point was that Rex management 'think' they own the pilots, like slaves, however somehow the government just lets them walk away and get employed elsewhere, gotta tighten those loopholes so the slaves can be chained to the yoke...