Krusty etc, the big boss (JB) has told crew Virgin will be operating turboprops, with his last conversation about them taking place during early December. At one of the roadshows he was asked about Qlinks dominance of regional Australia and if he has plans to do something about it. His reply was yes he has a plan and it would be known to all sometime between 1 Jan 2011 and 31 Dec 2011.
Don't expect any announcement within the 1st quarter of this year, as the focus is getting the A330 into service, introducing the new product and uniforms.
Remember he knows how much profit Qlink adds to the Qantas bottom line and just like his plans to grab more of the business market, he knows he dosen't require 50% of the market to make money, 20 - 30% is all that's required.
REX could have been the operator, but the owners want it all their way ie a total buy out. The bearded one learnt from his last purchase of an airline, they come with to much baggage and vowed never to buy another airline. Plus the cost of purchasing another airline could be used to fund other aircraft.
Regarding finding crews and how much to pay them, if the apply the 20% number they used to come up with the Ejet pay scale then Captains would be paid around $112000 plus allowances and getting 14 - 15 days per month with progression onto a jet within 3 years, so I'm sure they will have no problem finding crews.
Markets at a guess would be;
NSW: AY, PMQ, CH( replacing ejets), DU, TW and WG
QLD: BUD, EMD, GLA and perhaps HVB
SA: PLC
VIC: MIA
TAS: DPO