Mr Sharp is a respected individual who was a good Federal...

Mr Sharp is a respected individual who was a good Federal Minister for Transport but omitted from the speech was detail about whether the so-called 'mainline' Boeing B737-800 flights already launched are profitable.

Today's ZL132 from Melbourne to Sydney at 1500 mid afternoon (Thursday 25 November) looks to have had 77 eceonomy class and eight business class passengers. Given REX offers fares as low as A$69 single (one way) in economy, it can't be making money with such low load factors. These low passenger numbers are far from an isolated case for REX.

The airline suffers from low awareness among prospective patrons, not all of whom book through WEB or FLT. If booking direct, most will know of Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Oz but how many in our three largest cities plus Adelaide have heard of REX? Lots of city Australians never visit rural Oz so they're unaware of historically rural-based businesses, including a small airline.

The jury is out but REX may well lose many millions each year on these capital city to capital city routes.