A pilot shortage blamed on Qantas has resulted in several Rex Airlines flights being cancelled at the last-minute leaving passengers stranded at King Island Airport.
Over the last few weeks, several flights meant to be leaving King Island Airport have been cancelled while passengers have been checked in and ready to board.
King Island Tourism president Adam Hely said the instances of cancelled flights were frustrating.
Mr Hely said islanders had not received any reason why the flights were cancelled and is concerned that reliability and confidence with air connections are threatened, which are essential when coming to a remote location.
“Everyone is losing their confidence, especially people flying off the island who have to get to connecting flights.
[Additionally]”If we want to go over to Hobart, we’ve got to get over to Melbourne for a connecting flight unless we go to Launceston and drive.
“People are losing confidence in being able to rely on Rex”, he told Tasmanian media.
Cancelled flights mean that visitors often need to organise overnight accommodation and hire cars and similarly residents returning home from interstate need to do the same.
The problems of delayed or cancelled Rex flights have not only been felt on King Island.
Checked-in passengers at the Rex boarding gates in Melbourne were dismayed last week, to see listed board flights to other regional centres with lengthy delays.
Staff appeared to be unaware of the flight disruptions at the main check-in counters. Boarding gate counter staff advised waiting passengers that the cause was pilot replacement and flights needed to wait until they landed in Melbourne.
Mr Hely urged Rex Airlines to improve its communication with passengers catching flights to and from King Island.
“So the island can operate smoothly and we can give our tourists the best trip we can, we’ve got to have a more reliable service that we can depend on.”
Rex has regularly commented in the media about its pilot shortages and told media this week, “Unfortunately, the aviation industry worldwide has been hit hard by a shortage of pilots and Rex, like so many airlines, has also had to confront this problem post-Covid”.
“The recent cancellations were due to circumstances beyond our control, leaving us unable to crew our services at the last minute.”
Despite pilot shortages, this week REX announced new connections on key routes with an inaugural route from Brisbane to Adelaide, has added flights to existing connections to Melbourne and Sydney and added flights from Brisbane flights to Cairns, Townsville and Moranbah.
The company has also expanded its capacity to service the mining, construction and resources sector.
Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said that REX, through its stake in National Jet Express acquired last year, would look closely at the viability of flying to more major Queensland coastal cities and major tourist destinations.
Picture: Josh Withers