Originally Posted by
dr dre
A lot of regional air routes are already subsidised, and go more toward a government funded transport link vs a free market competition, although Rex does operate in competition on some routes.
My thought is with the general lack of spare aircraft and pilots in regional airlines at alternate providers could not begin operating the entirety of Rex’s network to the regions immediately without mass service disruptions. So keeping the current Rex Saabs going for another 8 months is the least worst option, a poorly performing airline is better than none. Maybe by mid next year a lot of alternative operators will be a in a better position to take over Rex’s subsidised routes.
The greater problem will be current Rex crew seeing the writing on the wall and abandoning ship before mid next year. They may not even make it to June.
If government were to allocate half of that $80 million to the alternate providers as a ramp-up/transition-of-service subsidy, the whole thing would likely be knocked over by next Easter. If a poorly performing airline is better than none, a handful of reasonably performing airlines has got to be better again.