REX to transition to ATRs, start domestic jet ops
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Originally Posted by MELKBQF
From April, Rex will also start new services including between Sydney and NSW destinations Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie.
I notice Rex are undercutting QantasLink too.
Shouldn’t QantasLink be taking them to the ACCC for predatory behaviour?
Deputy chairman John Sharp ... accused rivals of embedding staff on these trips to identify the number of passengers.
“We have noted many Qantas employees that are regular passengers on our flights. They are there to present the worst case picture and they wouldn’t be telling anyone about our flights that are full,” he said.
“We have noted many Qantas employees that are regular passengers on our flights. They are there to present the worst case picture and they wouldn’t be telling anyone about our flights that are full,” he said.
Sorry, missed this when I originally posted. Yes, spot on.
Last edited by MickG0105; 24th Mar 2021 at 12:22. Reason: Noticed chimbu warrior's comments
Yep, take a look at the seat allocation map for ZL153 Sydney to Melbourne this Friday. The 06:30pm - 08:05pm flight has three, count 'em, three seats showing as unavailable - one J class and two down the back.
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JC, but this bloke is dumb as a bag of hammers. Neither Qantas nor Virgin would be putting money into Rex's coffers and buying a seat on a flight to determine the pax load. You just send one of your staff down to the Rex gate ahead of boarding time and count pax once they have dutifully lined up to board. Couldn't be simpler.
Sorry, missed this when I originally posted. Yes, spot on.
Sorry, missed this when I originally posted. Yes, spot on.
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S
Sharp should be thankful QF staff are actually bumping up his low seat factors. Not even a month in, how much longer are Rex going to continue to burn money with this charade?
Well, they’re expanding rapidly from other ports they must know something. Surely Kim wouldn’t want to pi$$ away everything.
There is an old aviation saying that states " The lawn mower will rev up just before it runs out of fuel" (ok maybe not an old aviation saying but still applicable)
Just had to book a colleague home from MEL to SYD tonight. Both QF and VA were full for flights between 4 and 5:30. At the same time, ZL still has seats available at just $79 on its one flight. Still didn't give REX to business though because if their 5pm flight was delayed, they only had one other flight all night and that was 8pm!
It is fair to say, the REX mainline jet operation is in more trouble than the early settlers. They may be able to develop a niche on leisure routes which would mean they would effectively just be replacing Tiger. Not a bad option and it would mean they could differentiate their product a bit and look to move into the ULCC space. Their current strategy (if you could call it that) is doomed.
It is fair to say, the REX mainline jet operation is in more trouble than the early settlers. They may be able to develop a niche on leisure routes which would mean they would effectively just be replacing Tiger. Not a bad option and it would mean they could differentiate their product a bit and look to move into the ULCC space. Their current strategy (if you could call it that) is doomed.
You're right on price but pitching as a leisure oriented LCC would enable them to target their marketing in a way that makes sense. At the moment, they don't belong anywhere. They say they are offering a product that rivals QF but charge rock-bottom prices. This just makes people think they are going broke....
Just had to book a colleague home from MEL to SYD tonight. Both QF and VA were full for flights between 4 and 5:30. At the same time, ZL still has seats available at just $79 on its one flight. Still didn't give REX to business though because if their 5pm flight was delayed, they only had one other flight all night and that was 8pm!
It is fair to say, the REX mainline jet operation is in more trouble than the early settlers. They may be able to develop a niche on leisure routes which would mean they would effectively just be replacing Tiger. Not a bad option and it would mean they could differentiate their product a bit and look to move into the ULCC space. Their current strategy (if you could call it that) is doomed.
It is fair to say, the REX mainline jet operation is in more trouble than the early settlers. They may be able to develop a niche on leisure routes which would mean they would effectively just be replacing Tiger. Not a bad option and it would mean they could differentiate their product a bit and look to move into the ULCC space. Their current strategy (if you could call it that) is doomed.
For instance, Rex's fullest Sydney - Melbourne flight today was their 12.30pm, flight ZL105. That flew with a sub-40 percent load factor with just 63-odd seats filled out of 168 in the economy cabin.
The equivalent Qantas and Virgin flights, QF447 (12:30pm departure) and VA838 (12pm departure) flew with 96 percent and 82 percent economy loads respectively. When you look at the traditionally very high load factor flights like the 6.30pm departure Sydney - Melbourne, Qantas's QF483 is essentially full; when I looked this morning there was one unsold economy seat out of 162 and one out of 12 business class seats unsold.
Jetstar's 6.30pm, JQ523, is running at 100 percent.
Virgin's 6.30pm flight, VA878, was running at 83 percent (surprisingly with 7 out of 8 business class seats sold - some people like 2 minute noodles I guess).
The equivalent Rex flight, ZL153, had a grand total of 16 seats filled (and not one of the 8 business class seats sold) for a load factor of 9 percent.
Regardless of where Rex's cost base is you can not make money with those sorts of loads. And the tenting of their loads around midday suggests that they have not made any inroads to the corporate market.
I'd like to hear Sharpie's spin on this.
Whilst I agree that Rex's load factors are low, it needs to be mentioned that the promo fares require passengers to pay $6 for seat selection. For some, this is a cost they don't want to pay.
Rex's booking system does not assign a seat to those who don't pay until check-in. All seats are available for passengers who pay for a more flexible fare, legroom seats or $6. Therefore, snooping at seat maps isn't portraying a completely accurate economy figure.
Touching on the topic of load factors. I believe it's completely far fetched to think Rex will fill their 737's consistently from day 1. It takes time to build a customer base, especially when most who aren't from country ports don't know who Rex are (yet). They are beginning to advertise (perhaps finally forking out for a marketing department now PAG have board members), which will see pax loads gradually increase.
It cannot be forgotten that COVID is still around with lots of uncertainty up in the air. I'm interested to see what happens with these 800,000 1/2 price flights now that Queensland have another community COVID case.
Not helping Rex's cause is the fact some booking sites (exclusive of Webjet) don't actually advertise Rex's lowest fare. Comparing flights in a weeks time, VA was the suggested airline with Rex coming in 3rd behind Jetstar due price. When looking at the respective websites for the same date and flights, Rex were in fact the cheapest by a few dollars, however the comparison site did not advertise Rex's promo flights. This is true for multiple websites.
Most mum and dads aren't aviation fanatics and therefore may not book from the airlines website and book simply from the cheapest fare available upon instant comparisons. If these sites aren't actually showing Rex's cheapest fares, they are potentially losing a lot of customers for no reason.
Rex's booking system does not assign a seat to those who don't pay until check-in. All seats are available for passengers who pay for a more flexible fare, legroom seats or $6. Therefore, snooping at seat maps isn't portraying a completely accurate economy figure.
Touching on the topic of load factors. I believe it's completely far fetched to think Rex will fill their 737's consistently from day 1. It takes time to build a customer base, especially when most who aren't from country ports don't know who Rex are (yet). They are beginning to advertise (perhaps finally forking out for a marketing department now PAG have board members), which will see pax loads gradually increase.
It cannot be forgotten that COVID is still around with lots of uncertainty up in the air. I'm interested to see what happens with these 800,000 1/2 price flights now that Queensland have another community COVID case.
Not helping Rex's cause is the fact some booking sites (exclusive of Webjet) don't actually advertise Rex's lowest fare. Comparing flights in a weeks time, VA was the suggested airline with Rex coming in 3rd behind Jetstar due price. When looking at the respective websites for the same date and flights, Rex were in fact the cheapest by a few dollars, however the comparison site did not advertise Rex's promo flights. This is true for multiple websites.
Most mum and dads aren't aviation fanatics and therefore may not book from the airlines website and book simply from the cheapest fare available upon instant comparisons. If these sites aren't actually showing Rex's cheapest fares, they are potentially losing a lot of customers for no reason.
I did a bit of poking around on the various booking engines earlier and Rex's load factors are diabolically low.
For instance, Rex's fullest Sydney - Melbourne flight today was their 12.30pm, flight ZL105. That flew with a sub-40 percent load factor with just 63-odd seats filled out of 168 in the economy cabin.
The equivalent Qantas and Virgin flights, QF447 (12:30pm departure) and VA838 (12pm departure) flew with 96 percent and 82 percent economy loads respectively. When you look at the traditionally very high load factor flights like the 6.30pm departure Sydney - Melbourne, Qantas's QF483 is essentially full; when I looked this morning there was one unsold economy seat out of 162 and one out of 12 business class seats unsold.
Jetstar's 6.30pm, JQ523, is running at 100 percent.
Virgin's 6.30pm flight, VA878, was running at 83 percent (surprisingly with 7 out of 8 business class seats sold - some people like 2 minute noodles I guess).
The equivalent Rex flight, ZL153, had a grand total of 16 seats filled (and not one of the 8 business class seats sold) for a load factor of 9 percent.
Regardless of where Rex's cost base is you can not make money with those sorts of loads. And the tenting of their loads around midday suggests that they have not made any inroads to the corporate market.
I'd like to hear Sharpie's spin on this.
For instance, Rex's fullest Sydney - Melbourne flight today was their 12.30pm, flight ZL105. That flew with a sub-40 percent load factor with just 63-odd seats filled out of 168 in the economy cabin.
The equivalent Qantas and Virgin flights, QF447 (12:30pm departure) and VA838 (12pm departure) flew with 96 percent and 82 percent economy loads respectively. When you look at the traditionally very high load factor flights like the 6.30pm departure Sydney - Melbourne, Qantas's QF483 is essentially full; when I looked this morning there was one unsold economy seat out of 162 and one out of 12 business class seats unsold.
Jetstar's 6.30pm, JQ523, is running at 100 percent.
Virgin's 6.30pm flight, VA878, was running at 83 percent (surprisingly with 7 out of 8 business class seats sold - some people like 2 minute noodles I guess).
The equivalent Rex flight, ZL153, had a grand total of 16 seats filled (and not one of the 8 business class seats sold) for a load factor of 9 percent.
Regardless of where Rex's cost base is you can not make money with those sorts of loads. And the tenting of their loads around midday suggests that they have not made any inroads to the corporate market.
I'd like to hear Sharpie's spin on this.
Supposedly the reason there was no food the last 6 months was because there were in depth catering contract negotiations. Told today it was a last minute contract drawn up for 12 months with the previous contractor Gate Gourmet..........
Whilst I agree that Rex's load factors are low, it needs to be mentioned that the promo fares require passengers to pay $6 for seat selection. For some, this is a cost they don't want to pay.
Rex's booking system does not assign a seat to those who don't pay until check-in. All seats are available for passengers who pay for a more flexible fare, legroom seats or $6. Therefore, snooping at seat maps isn't portraying a completely accurate economy figure.
Rex's booking system does not assign a seat to those who don't pay until check-in. All seats are available for passengers who pay for a more flexible fare, legroom seats or $6. Therefore, snooping at seat maps isn't portraying a completely accurate economy figure.
There have been flights with 60 odd pax while tickets are still being sold at the promo price
Time will tell. We'll see what comes first - Rex making it to the end of the current financial year or an ASX announcement of an extraordinary nature.