REX to transition to ATRs, start domestic jet ops
!!
The language used during some of their announcements is exactly that. They expected the Saab operation to continue to spin a profit even when they took their eye off it. The reality is they have spent the last decade spending tomorrow's capex and now they say its a drag on their financials.
10 years ago, Saab came to Rex and said they had the idea for an updated 340. Better engines, avionics and an APU. LKH essentially laughed in their faces. Now who's laughing? No support from GE, minimal support from Saab, federal government money all dried up. No pilots, no engines. But hey, it's Qantas' fault!
10 years ago, Saab came to Rex and said they had the idea for an updated 340. Better engines, avionics and an APU. LKH essentially laughed in their faces. Now who's laughing? No support from GE, minimal support from Saab, federal government money all dried up. No pilots, no engines. But hey, it's Qantas' fault!
I had a conversation with a senior REX manager about this some 15 or so years ago. He told me that they (REX) had actually approached SAAB with a view to producing the 340C and recommencing the production of the 2000, for the vey reasons I have stated above. According to this senior manager, SAAB comprehensively ruled out that ever happening?
So if SAAB had indeed reconsidered, I'm a little perplexed as to why REX didn't at least entertain the idea?
SAAB weren’t offering a new aircraft, it was a zero time program.
What SAAB proposed was you take your B model back to Sweden. They take the whole airframe apart, and then they completely rebuild that same airframe with two updated FADEC engines and new avionics. Then they give it back to you as a zero hour airframe.
PAG are in a real spot of bother here. I give it a week before John not-so Sharp wheels out his little victim act again.
What SAAB proposed was you take your B model back to Sweden. They take the whole airframe apart, and then they completely rebuild that same airframe with two updated FADEC engines and new avionics. Then they give it back to you as a zero hour airframe.
PAG are in a real spot of bother here. I give it a week before John not-so Sharp wheels out his little victim act again.
SAAB weren’t offering a new aircraft, it was a zero time program.
What SAAB proposed was you take your B model back to Sweden. They take the whole airframe apart, and then they completely rebuild that same airframe with two updated FADEC engines and new avionics. Then they give it back to you as a zero hour airframe.
PAG are in a real spot of bother here. I give it a week before John not-so Sharp wheels out his little victim act again.
What SAAB proposed was you take your B model back to Sweden. They take the whole airframe apart, and then they completely rebuild that same airframe with two updated FADEC engines and new avionics. Then they give it back to you as a zero hour airframe.
PAG are in a real spot of bother here. I give it a week before John not-so Sharp wheels out his little victim act again.
You may be talking about the Stillborn SAAB 340C. This was a project from the nineties where the 34 seat airframe was upgraded to all the nice engines/avionics of the SAAB 2000. This would have resulted in a common endorsement and similar performance and operating efficiencies. Operators could trade in their old A and B models for the flexibility of a mixed fleet of 34/50 seaters that all crew could then operate. Think Dash 8 200/300 but with better gear and performance. Great stuff! Unfortunately, the SAAB 2000 was a commercial failure for a whole other reason, and SAAB decided not to go ahead with the 340C.
I had a conversation with a senior REX manager about this some 15 or so years ago. He told me that they (REX) had actually approached SAAB with a view to producing the 340C and recommencing the production of the 2000, for the vey reasons I have stated above. According to this senior manager, SAAB comprehensively ruled out that ever happening?
So if SAAB had indeed reconsidered, I'm a little perplexed as to why REX didn't at least entertain the idea?
I had a conversation with a senior REX manager about this some 15 or so years ago. He told me that they (REX) had actually approached SAAB with a view to producing the 340C and recommencing the production of the 2000, for the vey reasons I have stated above. According to this senior manager, SAAB comprehensively ruled out that ever happening?
So if SAAB had indeed reconsidered, I'm a little perplexed as to why REX didn't at least entertain the idea?
That's right, I had forgotten about that little gem - an eventual value of between $1 billion and $1.6 billion 3-4 years after capital city flights commenced.
Does Rex even have someone running Loyalty these days? (Loyalty as in frequent flyer, rather than the usually required fealty to LKH).
Does Rex even have someone running Loyalty these days? (Loyalty as in frequent flyer, rather than the usually required fealty to LKH).
You would assume PAG didn’t plan on financing Saab issues, even if they planned this investment as being short term. Mother was about everything but the Saab, it was just meant to operate as it does in the back. Approaching the end of the term, they have a highly unprofitable Saab operation and a Jet operation which cannot make money. All going to plan….nope.
PAG's walk-away is to simply elect to redeem the issued notes at Face Value instead of converting them. We've only ever seen a synopsis of the actual funding agreement between PAG and Rex, but from that it looks like PAG would need to wait until the Maturity Date (five years following the First Drawdown Date) to redeem the notes. That would be March 2026, unless either party exercised their right to extend the Maturity Date by one year. Redemption would see PAG get their money back plus the (below market) 4 percent annual interest that they have been collecting. You could argue that PAG would have also received an education on the vagaries and vicissitudes of the Australian commercial aviation sector; assign your own value to that.
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Any word on what's happening with -RQC? It was their first jet with the initial lease due to expire soon. It looks like it was flown to the Philippines last month, presumably for heavy maintenance. Is it coming back?
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A few days to run yet but November is shaping up as quite a solid month for Rex's domestic jet ops; they will likely close out the month with some 180,000 pax moved on nearly 1,280 flights.
Their AGM is on Wednesday. If they don't announce at the AGM (or sometime there or thereabouts) that domestic is on a path to, at the very least, breaking even then I suspect that they are in some trouble. If they can't turn a quid on those November numbers, they need to give the game away.
Their AGM is on Wednesday. If they don't announce at the AGM (or sometime there or thereabouts) that domestic is on a path to, at the very least, breaking even then I suspect that they are in some trouble. If they can't turn a quid on those November numbers, they need to give the game away.
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