Rex has again been officially recognised as Australia’s most punctual and reliable airline according to Federal Government data for the month of August.
Rex provides regular scheduled services between Toowoomba Wellcamp airport and Brisbane, and the western centres of Charleville, Quilpie, Cunnamulla, Thargomindah and Birdsville.
Figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) show Rex had the best On Time Performance (OTP) and the lowest flight cancellation rate of any airline last month.
In August, 80 percent of Rex flights departed on time, more than 10 per cent better than both Virgin (68.4 per cent) and Jetstar (69.8 per cent) with Qantas a distant second at 73.9 per cent.
The gap was even more stark for cancellation rates.
Qantas and Jetstar’s cancellation rates were almost twice as much as Rex’s while the Virgin Group’s was almost three times as high.
“Besides being consistently Australia’s most reliable airline, we are proud that during COVID we did not de-staff the call centre in a disingenuous attempt to discourage requests for refund,” said Rex Deputy Chairman, John Sharp AM.
“In fact, we did the opposite and created a special App so that passengers could be automatically refunded without having to contact the call centre,” Mr Sharp said.
“We even sent out six reminders to travel agents to ask them to initiate the refund process for passengers who booked directly through them.
“The end result is that we refunded every passenger who requested a COVID-related refund.
“We are also proud of the fact that we did not sell tickets for phantom flights in a bid to enhance cash flow.
“We did not retrench a single staff member and every cent of JobKeeper subsidy has been distributed back to staff.
“We do not ever gouge our passengers, even on routes where we are the sole operator and we do not squat on valuable airport slots by gaming the system.”
“Australians are truly sick and tired of being treated with contempt by carriers that charge the earth for unreliable services and questionable business ethics and are now flocking to experience Rex’s reliable and affordable services delivered with our trademark country hospitality and integrity,” Mr Sharp said.
This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 28 September 2023.
