Wirraway
8th Jul 2004, 17:30
Fri "The Australian"
Rex gets locals back on board
By Steve Creedy
July 09, 2004
AUSTRALIA'S biggest independent regional airline is returning to its roots, welcoming back founders and long-time key employees as it tries to boost its links with local communities.
Hazelton Airlines founders Max and Laura Hazelton and Eilish Kendell, who helped husband Don launch Kendell Airlines, are among those enlisted by Regional Express to help re-establish rapport with regional communities and stress the airline's heritage.
The move is one of several initiatives Rex believes will help push its annual passenger numbers from 840,000 to the 1million mark in the next financial year.
The airline has already moved from a $32 million loss to earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation of about $1 million this year and conservatively predicts that will rise to at least $5million in 2004-05.
The strategy is to boost Rex's profile by harnessing the experience and local contacts of the ambassadors and re-establishing the links with the two airlines that combined to form it.
Chief executive Geoff Breust said Rex did not want to lose that heritage and become an airline with "faceless people in the city".
"It was initially run from Sydney, there was not a lot of direct relationships or direct liaisons back to the local communities," Mr Breust said.
In addition to the Hazeltons and Ms Kendell, Rex has also called upon well-known travel industry figure Max Kingston and former key airline employees.
They include Scott and Margaret Stenson, who served air travellers for 44 years in South Australia's Port Lincoln, and former Hazelton regional manager Wally Flynn and wife Shirley in the NSW town of Dubbo.
The ambassadors will be left to decide how much work they take on for the airline, but management is hoping they will represent it at local community functions.
Mr Hazelton, who lives in the NSW regional centre of Orange, said he believed the ambassador strategy would play well for Rex.
"A lot of people have said to me it's great to see you've still got a link with the airline," he said yesterday.
"And I think that's what they're looking for.
"People were very loyal to us over the years and they thought it was the end of the line when Hazelton, with Ansett, went into receivership."
Ms Kendell said she continued to talk to people in NSW's Wagga Wagga about Rex and managed to convince some to switch from Qantas.
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Rex gets locals back on board
By Steve Creedy
July 09, 2004
AUSTRALIA'S biggest independent regional airline is returning to its roots, welcoming back founders and long-time key employees as it tries to boost its links with local communities.
Hazelton Airlines founders Max and Laura Hazelton and Eilish Kendell, who helped husband Don launch Kendell Airlines, are among those enlisted by Regional Express to help re-establish rapport with regional communities and stress the airline's heritage.
The move is one of several initiatives Rex believes will help push its annual passenger numbers from 840,000 to the 1million mark in the next financial year.
The airline has already moved from a $32 million loss to earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation of about $1 million this year and conservatively predicts that will rise to at least $5million in 2004-05.
The strategy is to boost Rex's profile by harnessing the experience and local contacts of the ambassadors and re-establishing the links with the two airlines that combined to form it.
Chief executive Geoff Breust said Rex did not want to lose that heritage and become an airline with "faceless people in the city".
"It was initially run from Sydney, there was not a lot of direct relationships or direct liaisons back to the local communities," Mr Breust said.
In addition to the Hazeltons and Ms Kendell, Rex has also called upon well-known travel industry figure Max Kingston and former key airline employees.
They include Scott and Margaret Stenson, who served air travellers for 44 years in South Australia's Port Lincoln, and former Hazelton regional manager Wally Flynn and wife Shirley in the NSW town of Dubbo.
The ambassadors will be left to decide how much work they take on for the airline, but management is hoping they will represent it at local community functions.
Mr Hazelton, who lives in the NSW regional centre of Orange, said he believed the ambassador strategy would play well for Rex.
"A lot of people have said to me it's great to see you've still got a link with the airline," he said yesterday.
"And I think that's what they're looking for.
"People were very loyal to us over the years and they thought it was the end of the line when Hazelton, with Ansett, went into receivership."
Ms Kendell said she continued to talk to people in NSW's Wagga Wagga about Rex and managed to convince some to switch from Qantas.
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