Regional Express (Rex) has increased flights and seats on the Burnie–Melbourne route from this coming Monday, 9 October.
Speaking about the increased schedule, Rex Managing Director, Geoff Breust said the airline had reacted further to market demand by providing more seats and more flights with more convenient times.
“Rex’s new schedule from next Monday takes our flights to five return Monday to Friday and four returns Saturday and Sunday. This is a 32 percent increase in seating capacity bringing the total seats available to over 116,000 per annum from the current 88,000 with the current traffic being at about 90,000. But on top of that we have revised the schedule to increase the spread of travelling times to suit both business and leisure travellers,” Mr Breust said.
”Rex has maintained a strong commitment to Burnie and the North West coast since the withdrawal of services by QantasLink on 31 July. We initially increased services to four return daily and we now take the next step to five services. This is in line with the commitment we gave Burnie back in June,” Mr Breust said.
“Immediately upon news of the withdrawal, Rex initiated an urgent procurement of an additional aircraft to put into the Victorian network. It is indeed a fine testament to our staff that we have been able to get another Saab and crew ready in only 2 months.”
“We thank the residents of the North West Coast for their patience while we have gone through this process. Residents will now have the luxury of an unprecedented 5 return services spread out
throughout the day and we are confident that this, together with our affordable fares, will boost travel through Burnie Airport.”
Mr Breust confirmed that Rex would add even further flights during peak times when demand warranted.
“Rex sees Burnie as an integral part of our network and a route which we believe we can grow with frequency, convenient schedule times and affordable fares. As part of this strategy Rex announced last week a major fleet upgrade and expansion with the lease of 25 latest generation Saab 340B Plus aircraft over the next three years.
“Our fleet expansion and upgrade will enable us to take full advantage of opportunities around our network to grow the markets even more. With the latest in interior furnishings, an active cabin noise cancellation system and the ability to uplift more payload at many of our regional airports, the new
aircraft will be well received by Rex travellers.
“These newer aircraft will be introduced on the Burnie–Melbourne route in priority,” Mr Breust said.
Details of the new services are given below.
New Rex Burnie Schedule
The highlight of the new schedule is a new peak time morning service which will depart Burnie for Melbourne at 8.30am arriving 9.40am. Travellers from Melbourne will be able to arrive earlier in Burnie with a new flight departing Melbourne at 7.00am arriving Burnie at 8.10am.
Evening flights have been re-scheduled to provide two evening departures to Melbourne – one at 4.40pm arriving Melbourne at 5.50pm daily and a new flight at 6.30opm arriving Melbourne at 7.40pm Sunday to Friday.
The new schedule also includes a flight from Melbourne to Burnie at 5.00pm arriving 6.10pm Sunday to Friday as
well as the normal 7.05pm departure from Melbourne which arrives at 8.15pm every day.
(These times are based on Eastern Standard Time and when Victoria and Tasmania have common daylight saving times. Victoria does not convert to daylight saving time until 29 October and in the interim all schedule arrival and departure times for Tasmania will be one hour earlier than mentioned above. Please refer to schedules
below.)
Tasmania Daylight Saving Interim Schedule (9 - 28 Oct)
MELBOURNE TO BURNIE
ZL3553 0700 0910 Mon-Sat
ZL3557 0845 1055 Mon-Sun
ZL3573 1510 1720 Mon-Sun
ZL3577 1700 1910 Mon-Fri, Sun
ZL3579 1905 2115 Mon-Sun
BURNIE TO MELBOURNE
ZL3554 0730 0740 Mon-Sun
ZL3556 0930 0940 Mon-Sat
ZL3558 1115 1125 Mon-Sun
ZL3574 1740 1750 Mon-Sun
ZL3578 1930 1940 Mon-Fri, Sun
Victorian Daylight Saving Commences 29 Oct 06
MELBOURNE TO BURNIE
ZL3553 0700 0810 Mon-Sat
ZL3557 0845 0955 Mon-Sun
ZL3573 1510 1620 Mon-Sun
ZL3577 1700 1810 Mon-Fri, Sun
ZL3579 1905 2015 Mon-Sun
BURNIE TO MELBOURNE
ZL3554 0630 0740 Mon-Sun
ZL3556 0830 0940 Mon-Sat
ZL3558 1015 1125 Mon-Sun
ZL3574 1640 1750 Mon-Sun
ZL3578 1830 1940 Mon-Fri, Sun
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