Rex cuts services by 3pc

[Ryan N]

Rex cuts services by 3pc in face of pilot shortage

May 7, 2008 - 11:31AM

Regional airline Rex has announced further cutbacks in its network, blaming a continuing pilot shortage.

The airline, Regional Express, will withdraw from the Cooma-Sydney route indefinitely, instead of recommencing flights there after a summer hiatus.

It also will reduce flights elsewhere in the network, the company said, together amounting to a three per cent cutback in services.

Rex General Manager, Network Strategy and Sales, Warrick Lodge said the airline had been counting on the major airlines reducing their pilot recruitment over winter.

"Unfortunately this was not to be and in the most recent month of April, Rex experienced five per cent attrition in our pilot ranks, with the attrition rate in this (financial year) tracking above 50 per cent," Mr Lodge said.

"The continued high attrition rate means that our flight schedules remain vulnerable to last minute sickness of the flight crew.

"We believe that the responsible course of action is to reduce the flight schedule, which will provide us with more reserve pilots and in turn will translate into a reduction of last minute flight cancellations."

Other changes in the Rex network include some flight reductions, particularly in lower demand weekend flights. Routes affected include Adelaide to Mount Gambier, Melbourne to Mount Gambier, Melbourne to Mildura, Melbourne to Albury and Sydney to Griffith.

"Overall, this will see a reduction in the planned flying activities of around three per cent," Mr Lodge said.

With Rex having recently taken control of the Australian Airline Pilot Academy, Rex said the academy had 39 cadets in training, with "everything ... on track for this first batch to graduate later in the year and commence their conversion training onto Rex's Saab 340 aircraft," the company said.

A further batch of 20 cadets is scheduled to enrol every three months.

"Once our cadets start to enter into service late this year, we believe that we will be in a much better position to be in control of our pilot strength and hopefully we could envisage a gradual resumption of our network expansion," said the airline's chief pilot and general manager of flight operations, Chris Hine.

Customers holding reservations for the Cooma service and other affected flights should contact the Rex Customer Contact Centre on 131713 for a full refund.

AAP