no punches pulled on regional routes fight, page-7

The Chairman of Rex has been buying shares on about six occasions recently, as the price pushed towards $1. Yes, I do know the company pretty well, from the Hazelton days prior to the Ansett collapse, and am in regular frequent contact with one of its senior officers.

Rex's determination and focus is underestimated by many of its detractors. The company is a little bit like Fortescue, ie. managing and dealing with issues and problems in a determined and efficient way, and ignoring external 'noise'.

Rex recently announced some new routes in Queensland, and Qantas responded by dumping larger 74 seat aircraft on some of the routes. Rex will not fly on routes that its research says may not be viable. It pretty much ignores Qantas. Qantas has frequent special sales that fill its aircraft with unprofitable passengers, but Rex never has sales.

On routes where Qantas and Rex compete, fares are typically one third of what Qantas charges on its exclusive routes.

Its all about management, and Rex is consistently profitable in one of the most difficult industries. Its fascinating to watch. They get a raw deal on many fronts, but just keep going.