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| President Geoff Breust and Guest Speaker Warwick Lodge |
Warwick Lodge is the General Manager Network Strategy for REX Airlines. He was introduced today by former CEO REX Airlines and now our Rotary Club President Geoff Breust.
Geoff said that he has known Warwick since 1991 when he came to work at Kendall Airlines. Geoff clearly admires Warwick for the skills he brings to his role and the achievements he has attained since commencing as a Baggage Porter at Wagga Airport.
Warwick grew up on the land at Wakool and began his working life as a rice farmer. He and wife Kim have two teenage children.
"Regional aviation is tough" says Warwick. Sixteen regional airlines have ceased operation in the past ten years. Margins are thin and so Airlines have to be managed very efficiently.
Warwick recounted the history of REX which commenced in 2002, growing out of the merger betweek Kendall Airlines and Hazelton.
REX operates SAAB 340's and have 55 aircraft in the fleet which are serviced here in Wagga and Adelaide. REX is the largest inland regional airline. REX flies to 58 destinations around Australia. The latest routes are from Perth to Albany and Esperance. It has 1.2 million repeat passengers and a turnover of 260 million dollars.
REX operates mainly on the Eastern seaboard however with hubs in Melbourne Adelaide and Brisbane. In the remote North of Australia, REX flies Brisbane to Mt Isa and has routes from Townsville and Cairns taking in the top of Cape York and an island off the coast.
The SAAB is a turbo prop aircraft that carries 34 passengers which is ideal for regional routes which have Port Populations of 15k to 20k people.
Because REX owns its aircraft, which they have purchased second hand at good prices, they are able to compete with their main rivals Qantas and Virgin which mainly lease their aircraft. Their operations are mainly for day return passengers travelling to Capital Cities and so they overnight their aircraft in Regional centres so that they can get an early start for the commute to the city.
REX has invested $30 million here in Wagga in a Pilot Academy so that they can train their pilots who are indentured for a period of seven years. Many of their graduates aspire to go on to fly larger aircraft for bigger fleets and so there is a constant demand for new trainees. REX employs 150 Captains and 150 First Officers. So far there have been 200 graduates from the academy.
REX has various operations apart from passenger transport, these include: A Pilot Academy; Executive Jet services and MediVac; Air Freight; Air Ambulance; Charter and FIFO (Through Subsidiary Pelican Air and Air Link)
Mascot is where the Corporate Headquarters are located, while Wagga has the heavy maintenance base along with the Academy and a flight simulator. Adelaide is the location for intermediate maintenance and Orange NSW has the call centre.
REX has lounges at all major airports.
In response to a number of questions from members, Warwick told us that REX has a business flyer program with reward incentives for frequent users. Dealing with regulators can be difficult with some proposals making it difficult to fly in remote areas due to limits on pilot hours.
The SAAB aircraft have a standard limit of flying life of 60,000 hours. REX has a regular exchange program with engines and their fleet has many years before they reach the end of their life cycle.
Selecting new routes requires an analysis of future passenger demand, set up costs, maintenance etc. It can be a balancing act.
Trainees have a seven year commitment with the airline. It costs $100,000 to do the training, Trainees are assisted with low interest loans and if they reach their last year successfully the last $25k is waived.
John Smith from the Rotary Wagga Luftwaffe gave a vote of thanks and congratulated Warwick and in turn REX airlines for the great contribution they make to the City of Wagga, both to the economy and to its citizens. He reminded us of the thin margins that airlines work under and encouraged us all to support REX.
Members showed their appreciation of an outstanding and informative talk with enthusiastic appllause.
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