Rex to cut flights on Griffith, Narrandera and Albury routes, blames Qantas for 'pillaging' pilots

Sydney-Griffith, Sydney-Narrandera and Sydney-Albury services are all affected by the changes, which were announced on Friday afternoon.

A Rex spokesman said the airline's Sydney-Griffith schedule would be reduced from five return flights each weekday to three, while the Sydney-Narrandera service will be reduced from three flights a day to two flights a day, Monday to Friday.

Sydney-Albury flights running from Monday to Friday will be cut from five return flights to three, with weekend schedules "being tweaked".

In a statement, the airline said it had been forced to make further reductions across its regional network as the "major carriers, particularly the Qantas Group, continued their relentless pillaging of Rex's pilot group".

Qantas has rubbished the pillaging claims.

Rex did not say how many pilots had been "pillaged" but a spokesman said a pilot shortage after other airlines, including Qantas, "poached" their pilots was the reason for the flight reduction.

The spokesman declined to say how many pilots the carrier had lost to other airlines.

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The reductions, which come into effect from October 30, involve routes serviced by Rex's fleet of SAAB 340 turboprop aircraft.

"Unlike other carriers, we prefer to reduce the scheduled services so that our passengers can be assured of fewer disruptions and more reliable services," Rex's general manager of network strategy, Warrick Lodge, said in the statement.

"We intend to return to the standard flight schedules from March 31, 2024, however this is subject to the situation improving."

In April, Rex reduced or changed flight times for nine services across four states, including its Melbourne-Wagga and Sydney-Wagga routes.

At the time, Rex made no mention of its competitors, instead saying there was a chronic shortage of staff and supply chain disruptions.

The airline said the service reductions announced in April would continue for at least another five months.

The affected routes require twin-engine pilots, who were in heated pay negotiations with the airline in June last year.

Pilots took protected industrial action, including a ban on topping up planes with extra fuel, after extended wage negotiations.

At the time Rex was offering a 5.1 per cent increase, plus catch-up payments, which the Australian Federation of Air Pilots said amounted to a pay cut as it did not cover inflation.

Rex's deputy chairman John Sharp said the negotiations exposed the "hypocrisy" of the union because it agreed to a two per cent pay rise for QantasLink pilots in 2021 and 2022.

The majority of Rex twin-engine pilots agreed to a new pay deal in November.

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- with Australian Associated Press

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