Rex Airlines Chairman insults longtime customer Cardiologist Dr Charles Thorburn with arrogant letter

Unhappy with the deterioration of services on Rex Airlines Sydney to Griffith route, Sydney Cardiologist Dr Charles Thorburn wrote a letter to the regional airline expressing his disappointment and concerns.

Dr Thorburn was dumfounded by the airline’s “offensive and arrogant” response which questioned whether he would reimburse patients "who did not get well after seeing you", the Daily Telegraph reported.

The reply letter that was sent by Rex’s corporate services general manager Irwin Tan on behalf of company chairman Lim Kin Hai, continued saying "Perhaps in the medical profession you are used to dispensing information on how long you make your patients wait or how often you misdiagnosed."

Dr Thorburn said he was outraged by the airline’s sarcastic response.

"I didn't ask for reimbursement. I expected a letter of apology and I wouldn't have taken it any further," he told the Daily Telegraph yesterday.

Dr Thorburn has been flying to Griffith every two months for more than 20 years, meeting around 50 heart patients. He checks the patient’s defibrillators and pacemakers and makes the journey so the community doesn’t have to travel some 600km to the city.

Dr Thorburn put pen to paper to voice his concerns after his own service to Griffith’s heart patients had become unreliable due to numerous delayed flights with Rex. The latest incident involved Dr Thorburn and 28 other passengers bussed to the nearby town of Narrandera after the plane needed urgent repairs. They were given only three pizzas to share between them, and forced to wait four hours without being given further information.

"This is the second time in a year where the flight back to Sydney has been cancelled with no notice or follow-up," Dr Thorburn said.

"The irony is that at Griffith airport terminal check-in there is a Rex sign that says 'The heart of the country'. I'm a cardiologist who looks after hearts in the country."

The community of Griffith has rallied behind Dr Thorburn, with the town's Mayor Mike Neville saying what Rex had done to Dr Thorburn was unbelievable, the Daily Telegraph reported.

"The doctor provides a much-needed service to our town and he has been treated shabbily,'' Mr Neville said.

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said passengers were entitled to be treated fairly.

"This means having their complaints dealt with properly,'' Mr Albanese said.