Rex - Regional Express (ZL, Wagga Wagga) has accused its domestic competitors Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) and Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) of "rapacious", "selfish", and "irresponsible" practices regarding hiring pilots trained by REX en masse and thus causing a chaos in the regional market.
The regional specialist has said that acting proactively against the impending pilot shortage, it launched an own flight academy, Australian Airline Pilot Academy (AAPA), 10 years ago. Currently, 71% of REX's First Officers and 26% of Captains have been trained by the AAPA.
"Whilst REX's initiative is successful in responding to natural attrition rates, it is not enough to stave off Qantas and Virgin Australia’s rapacious plundering of REX's pilot pool instead of using their not inconsiderable resources to train their own pilots," Chief Operating Officer Neville Howell has said in an open letter.
According to REX, the two larger competitors have hired between them 17% of the regional carrier's First Officers and 56% of its Captains over the last two years. This leads to a shortage of staff at REX and causes disruption, as the carrier lacks enough reserve staff and is at times forced to cancel or combine flights, for example when pilots call in sick at the last minute.
Despite this, both larger airlines have a nearly or more than two times higher rate of cancellations than REX.
Both Qantas and Virgin Australia have responded to REX's open letter by underlining their respective investments in pilot training. A Qantas spokesperson has added that some movement of staff between airlines is natural, while Virgin has strongly rejected the allegations that it is irresponsibly causing disruption to the regional market.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, REX currently operates a total of fifty-three Saab 340Bs. The carrier's subsidiary Pel-Air Aviation (PFY, Sydney Kingsford Smith) operates three Saab 340(F)s and a single Saab 340A, as well as IAI 1124s, Learjets, and Beech (twin turboprop) 200s, while another subsidiary Air Link (LZ, Dubbo) operates Beech 1900Ds, Piper (twin piston) PA-31s, and Cessna (twin piston) 310Rs.
