When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going

It would appear mad to contemplate such a move during aviation’s worst crisis. Yet the Rex board figured that it is precisely when the aviation world is collapsing that this is the best opportunity to expand by starting new operations.

There was an abundance of aircraft available. Thousands of planes were pushed up against a fence. With this also comes distressed lease rates as lessors were anxious to keep their aircraft in the air.

Also, a pool of highly skilled professionals suddenly became available as pilots, engineers, cabin crew and others were either retrenched by other airlines or took voluntary redundancies.

More importantly, the very critical airport infrastructure – slots, gates, lounges and check-in desks – at capital cities were suddenly there for the asking.

These external factors, while crucial, do not by themselves guarantee the success of domestic operations. Rex’s future domestic success is underpinned by two decades of operational excellence and efficiency that made Rex consistently ranked as the best regional airline in the world and undoubtedly one of the three top performers in the entire airline world.

Rex’s speed in successfully introducing jet operations is unrivalled. It was only in November 2020 that we confirmed financing for Rex’s foray into the domestic market. Within six months we have obtained approval for jet operations on our Air Operators Certificate (AOC), recruited and trained crews and engineers, procured six Boeing 737-800NG aircraft, and started domestic operations on five routes, with the launch operations taking place on 1 March 2021 on the Sydney-Melbourne route.

The tempo will not be slowing with another two jets already lined up for August 2021 and intentions to introduce two more before the end of the year, bringing the domestic jet fleet to 10. Eventually our goal is to expand our domestic network to cover all of Australia’s major cities and large regional tourist destinations.

Rex’s model for domestic operations departs from the standard dichotomy between the full-service carrier with extortionist airfares and the low-cost carrier (LCC) with cheap fares but lots of hidden costs, bad service and even worse reliability. Rex is a full-service carrier with business class, baggage allowance, meals on board, lounge access and pre-seating, yet the pricing is not much higher than the LCC fares.

It is no wonder that both the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) have already noted that domestic airfares have never been that low in the past 10 years as a result of Rex’s entry in to the domestic market. Notable as it is, this is not the only trailblazing initiative we have made during this pandemic.

Indeed, when both Qantas and Virgin Australia completely ignored their duty of care towards their sta and passengers because of commercial considerations, Rex was the first airline in Australia, and among the first in the world, to mandate in May 2020 the wearing of masks on board the aircraft.

It was only seven months later that the federal government saw the wisdom of our move and made masks compulsory in the airport and on board the aircraft in January 2021.

Another area where Rex stood out in the airline world was our policy of full refund for COVID disruptions. Before Rex commenced domestic operations, Rex fully paid out every single request for a refund. Rex went much further and wrote eight monthly advisories to travel agents to ask them to seek refunds from their customers who booked on Rex with them. Compare this with Qantas, whose Facebook shows postings by over 1,300 very irate passengers, many of whom were not refunded even after one year.

Rex’s domestic operations experienced its first major lockdown and border closures in late June 2021 and we were overrun with more than 10,000 requests for refunds. To ensure that our passengers were paid quickly, we created in one week a dedicated portal where valid refund requests could be made online and refunds effected within 10 days.

Rex conducts its business with integrity and humanity. This is what we are. This is what we do.