Townsville Refueller Correct! REX Wins
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Qld, Australia
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Alright my bet is:
About as long as it takes for LKH to realise that the QT subsidy will not help when you are flying a S340 with B200 loads. My guess is that they will be back to QT for a subsidy hike within 6 months
About as long as it takes for LKH to realise that the QT subsidy will not help when you are flying a S340 with B200 loads. My guess is that they will be back to QT for a subsidy hike within 6 months
Join Date: Jan 1999
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Note To Anna.....
Come the end of July 2010, and REX are on your doorstep looking for a boost up, have a look at how your Election Promised 100,000 jobs are going when you dump QLD companies in favour of, shall we just say, others 
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Rex could use its low cost subsiduary Pelair to fly the routes in their metros and call it Rex light, or rex connect!!!!
and of course heaps of pilots would put their hands up to fly them. the race to the bottom continues
and of course heaps of pilots would put their hands up to fly them. the race to the bottom continues
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Did the Townsville Refueller refuel the Avro Anson aircraft of Townsville & Counrty Airways Pty Ltd who pioneered the route REX are about to take over? No doubt the SAAB 340B aircraft will be more comfortable than the Anson but not as exciting to fly in!
Now now Complete. 3 DEC's is a slight exageration. REX do not employ DEC's as such. The Letter Of Agreement for the townsville base allowed REX to employ (on a temporary basis) a limited number of Pelair (ex Macair Captains) to fill whatever position wasn't taken up by the current REX captains. 3 Command positions were available, of which current REX captains took 2, and one "DEC" from the aforementioned airline filled spot number 3.
What's interesting however is if the company plans to use the LOA, after all it is for the Townsville base, to employ more "DEC's" to crew these new services? It will of course depend on whether any more serving REX captains take up the offer. As only 2 put their hands up last time, I think it's safe to bet that few, if any, will be forthcoming this time. At least that's probably what the redundant ex Macair captains would be hopeing.
Now don't get me wrong, The retrenched Macair guys have done it tough. I've been there (more than once!), But be carefull. REX will use the LOA to crew these services if necessary, and they will use it just as quickly to throw you back onto the scrapheap. I was never happy with the LOA, and I told the REXPC that. If REX needed experienced pilots for their Townsville ops, then they should have offered employment to these guys directly into REX. Offer the base as part of the upgrade process, and before too long the experienced guys will leapfrog back into the LHS. Believe me, REX has been gutted of so much experience over the last 2 years, upgradeable F/O's are very thin on the ground!
But REX are hedging their bets. And the FEDs and the REXPC allowed them to do it! The REX "DEC's" have a finite shelf life. charming!
AS for the TL - all stops - ISA Jamair, I had to read it twice myself. It's been a few years since I've been up that way, but Jesus! Julia creek, Hughenden! In a SAAB!! I dunno man, would have to be some pretty decent subsidies on that run. You won't get many Punters jumping on the milkrun for TL - Isa and visa versa. They'll go direct with QLink. I know I would.
Anyway, it'll probably be a moot point if, sorry, when REX lose more "experienced" drivers. They're flat out crewing their existing services as it is. Interesting times ahead.
What's interesting however is if the company plans to use the LOA, after all it is for the Townsville base, to employ more "DEC's" to crew these new services? It will of course depend on whether any more serving REX captains take up the offer. As only 2 put their hands up last time, I think it's safe to bet that few, if any, will be forthcoming this time. At least that's probably what the redundant ex Macair captains would be hopeing.
Now don't get me wrong, The retrenched Macair guys have done it tough. I've been there (more than once!), But be carefull. REX will use the LOA to crew these services if necessary, and they will use it just as quickly to throw you back onto the scrapheap. I was never happy with the LOA, and I told the REXPC that. If REX needed experienced pilots for their Townsville ops, then they should have offered employment to these guys directly into REX. Offer the base as part of the upgrade process, and before too long the experienced guys will leapfrog back into the LHS. Believe me, REX has been gutted of so much experience over the last 2 years, upgradeable F/O's are very thin on the ground!
But REX are hedging their bets. And the FEDs and the REXPC allowed them to do it! The REX "DEC's" have a finite shelf life. charming!
AS for the TL - all stops - ISA Jamair, I had to read it twice myself. It's been a few years since I've been up that way, but Jesus! Julia creek, Hughenden! In a SAAB!! I dunno man, would have to be some pretty decent subsidies on that run. You won't get many Punters jumping on the milkrun for TL - Isa and visa versa. They'll go direct with QLink. I know I would.
Anyway, it'll probably be a moot point if, sorry, when REX lose more "experienced" drivers. They're flat out crewing their existing services as it is. Interesting times ahead.
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I know of quite a few ex MACAIR Saab crew, still sitting around doing "work for the dole" and other SLJs, just to put food on the table, who would love to have a go with REX or Pelair out of FNQ! Or any where else a base was available for that matter. Lets hope they get a call up soon! Seems REX did not want to know about these guys when they sent in apps. What a waste of good experienced crew, who would probably show quite a bit of loyalty and remain with the company for many years to come. 
Krusty, the all-stops Isa was only every done by CC metros. The SAABs did TL-ISA-TL or TL-CNY-ISA-TL (morning) or TL-ISA-CCY-TL (evening) and when I was there they were almost always full.
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travelator, Macair started using Saabs for all their QT runs including the TL all stops ISA run about five or more months before they went under. And yes even on the metros the seats were never full. Just another reason why west wing's B1900's would have been more suited for the job.
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Maybe they intend to run the Metro on the milk run to Isa again..... they had a Metro parked on the main apron at Isa yesterday for a couple of hours. KDO I think it was....
Give me the 1900D over the metro any day.... you can actually stand up in the 1900 (if you're not too tall), you can fit in the seats without having to be a contortionist and it is possible to hold a conversation without having to shout.
Give me the 1900D over the metro any day.... you can actually stand up in the 1900 (if you're not too tall), you can fit in the seats without having to be a contortionist and it is possible to hold a conversation without having to shout.
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Rex's media report on their website says they'll be basing a fourth saab in Townsville to cover these runs so I doubt the metro in Isa is a part of it. I am curious though as to what that aircraft is doing there. I thought jetcraft were the only operator that flew metros to isa.
Nose Wheel, just for clarification, what's the average fuel burn for the tl-hug-rmd-jlc-isa in a 1900D vs a metro. Just curious.
Soar. KDO and KAN are the last two remaining Pel-Air metros, for ad hoc charter etc. I doubt it would be a regular thing.
j3
Soar. KDO and KAN are the last two remaining Pel-Air metros, for ad hoc charter etc. I doubt it would be a regular thing.
j3
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Rex won the contract on the basis of Saabs for the next 5 years. They also guaranteed to have a backup Saab available. Obviously QT went for the 33 seats, FA and toilet and were mindfull of the cancelled flights and poor on time performance from the Macair debacle. To substitute anything else with less capacity would breach the contract conditions.
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Guaranteed backups in contractual terms means penalties for late departures.
The Penalties increase with time. It can mean the contractor pays the government for a really late departure!
This applies to all 3 operators, not just REX.
The Penalties increase with time. It can mean the contractor pays the government for a really late departure!
This applies to all 3 operators, not just REX.
All very interesting twodogs'.
I'd like to be a fly on the wall at the board meeting when REX begin cancelling flights on their southern (profitable) networks because of a lack of crew. Not only due to the looming exodus of Captains and the last remaining upgreadable F/O's, but also because crews are now tied up on unprofitable routes in QLD!?
Ooops!
I'd like to be a fly on the wall at the board meeting when REX begin cancelling flights on their southern (profitable) networks because of a lack of crew. Not only due to the looming exodus of Captains and the last remaining upgreadable F/O's, but also because crews are now tied up on unprofitable routes in QLD!?
Ooops!