Australia’s third-largest airline, Regional Express (Rex) has hit out at competitors Qantas and Virgin, claiming they are poaching its pilots.
In an open letter to regional communities, Rex apologised for disruption to services amid a global pilot shortage.
“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,” Rex chief operating officer Neville Howell wrote.
“In the past two years, these two airlines collectively have poached 17% and 56% of Rex’s first officer and captain establishment respectively.”
Howell claimed Rex was the only major carrier in Australia which had proactively tried to resolve the problem by starting a state of the art pilot academy.
Qantas hit back, saying no other Australian airline invested more in training pilots than the Qantas Group.
Qantas last month released a shortlist of nine regional cities in the running to be home to its new Qantas Group Pilot Academy.
The Academy, due to open its doors in 2019, is part of the Qantas Group’s plans to build “a long-term talent pipeline” for its airlines and meet the increasing need for skilled aviators in one of the world’s fastest growing industries.
Estimates suggest the global airline industry needs more than 640,000 more pilots over the next 20 years – 40% of them in the Asia Pacific region.
The scarcity of trained pilots is already upon us. Earlier this year, aviation analysts pointed out that Australian regional airline pilots (such as those working for Rex) could quadruple their salaries and earn twice as much as Australia’s prime minister – simply by moving to China.
Chinese airlines are said to be poaching experienced Australian pilots by offering USD 600,000 (AUD 768,000) a year. That’s 51% more than Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earns (AUD 507,338 a year) – but the Chinese salary is tax-free which gives it a greater edge.
Captain Murray Butt, president of the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), which represents 2250 Qantas Group pilots, told The Australian newspaper that Chinese airlines were offering salaries for domestic pilots that outstripped anything Australia’s main carriers could offer.
The same process may be underway within Australia, although Australian airlines and pilots themselves don’t all agree on that point.
Here is Howell’s open letter, as printed in the Daily Liberal under the heading: Pilot shortages and service disruptions
The aviation industry is amidst a global pilot shortage from which Australia is not spared. Regional aviation is the hardest hit as many local and international airlines actively poach pilots from Australia’s regional airlines to fill their own shortages. Even QantasLink is not immune to this as can be seen by the numerous media articles and releases by the former on its cancellations due to the pilot shortage.
Rex is the only major carrier in Australia that has proactively tried to resolve this problem by starting a state-of-the-art pilot academy – Australian Airline Pilot Academy (AAPA) – 10 years ago with over $35 M of investment. Since then, AAPA has trained over 220 cadets for Rex. 71% of Rex’s First Officer ranks and 29% of the Captain ranks are filled with former cadets of 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. In the past two years, these two airlines collectively have poached 17% and 56% of Rex’s First Officer and Captain establishment respectively. These two airlines are causing widespread chaos and disruptions to regional air travel by their selfish and irresponsible actions.
Because of the critical pilot shortage, Rex is not able to have its usual contingent of stand-by pilots rostered for duty. Consequently, any last-minute sick leave may result in flights being cancelled or combined with other routes. However, while we are obviously not proud of our current performance, we would like to reassure our customers that Rex’s cancellation rate of 1.29% (as reported by BITRE for FY18 YTD) is still significantly lower than the cancellation rate of QantasLink 2.39% (almost double) and Virgin Australia Regional 2.74% (more than double).
Rex is acutely aware of the effect that flight disruptions have on travel plans whether it be for leisure or business and Rex apologises for all past and potential future disruption to services throughout the network as a result of the industry-wide global pilot shortage.
We thank the regional communities in advance for their support, understanding and indulgence in this difficult period. We promise that we will redouble our efforts in pursuing all options for pilot recruitment, including overseas recruitment. We will also be reviewing our network with a view to trimming our schedule where possible to conserve resources.
Neville Howell, Chief Operating Officer
Written by Peter Needham
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This has been a problem of small business for years. Many is the time I have hired a young person, trained them in my office, and then had them poached by the Flight Centres and Helloworlds. In the case of Rex, not only do the larger airlines offer more money, there is also the obvious desire to move up from Saab 340’s to 737’s and bigger. It’s noticeable that the Qantas Pilot Academy doesn’t even open until next year, despite the airline being at almost its 100th anniversary. I think Rex has no option but to take on its pilots as contractors, and make them sign up for a minimum number of years with a penalty of repaying the entire cost of their training if they move elsewhere before the end of their term.
This has been a problem of small business for years. Many is the time I have hired a young person, trained them in my office, and then had them poached by the Flight Centres and Helloworlds. In the case of Rex, not only do the larger airlines offer more money, there is also the obvious desire to move up from Saab 340’s to 737’s and bigger. It’s noticeable that the Qantas Pilot Academy doesn’t even open until next year, despite the airline being at almost its 100th anniversary. I think Rex has no option but to take on its pilots as contractors, and make them sign up for a minimum number of years with a penalty of repaying the entire cost of their training if they move elsewhere before the end of their term.