Leading Sydney cardiologist Dr Charles Thorburn has threatened to boycott Rex and end his 20-year relationship with Griffith after a valid complaint letter to the airline's Singapore-based boss was met with an "arrogant and offensive" response.

In a return letter bordering on high farce, a Rex employee – acting on instruction from chairman Lim Kim Hai – questioned and ridiculed Dr Thorburn, even asking if he offered refunds for heart patients who "do not get well after seeing you".

The chairman also claimed Rex was "still much better than all the airlines in Australia and most of the airlines in the world".

The letter has evoked a furious response from local Rex customers, many taking to social media to upbraid Mr Kim Hai and share their own horror stories about travelling with Griffith's monopoly airline carrier.

Griffith mayor Mike Neville said the treatment of Dr Thorburn smacked of "sheer arrogance" and could jeopardise the city's long-term relationship with Rex.

"For a company that espouses to be the best airline in Australia, the tone of this letter and the level of service they provide is disappointing," Cr Neville said.

"It's a pretty shabby way to treat a doctor who has been a servant of this community for more than 20 years.

"The letter smacks of sheer arrogance and I imagine the Australian-based directors of the company would be embarrassed."

Griffith Business Chamber president Paul Pierotti said council's "cozy relationship" with Rex over the years contributed to the company's attitude.

"This is not an isolated incident and we know of several stories equally as bad as this," Mr Pierotti said.

"It's obvious that Rex is incapable of providing high-level customer service.

"Dr Thorburn deserves a full and immediate apology."

But in a brief written response to The Area News on Friday afternoon, a spokeswoman said the company stood by its treatment of Dr Thorburn.

Chairman of the local heart support group Norm Murphy said Griffith could ill-afford to lose a cardiologist of Dr Thorburn's calibre.

"He is a leading cardiologist with St Vincent's and one of only two cardiologists who come here. The service he provides is absolutely invaluable," Mr Murphy said.

"So many people depend on him, especially those with pacemakers, and instead of allowing him to be stuffed around by an airline, we should be falling over ourselves to get him here."

Dr Charles Thorburn is not satisfied with the response he received from Regional Express's managing director, Lim Kim Hai.

Rex's response to Dr Thorburn's letter

Dear Mr Thorburn

My Chairman Lim Kim Hai has received your letter dated 30 May 2012 and has instructed me to respond as follows:

1. Rex is not perfect and occasionally we do have failures of equipment and service standards. We are not proud of this and we are truly sorry to have caused any inconvenience to anybody.

2. That being the case, we think we are still much better than all the airlines in Australia and most of the airlines in the world.

3. Your entitlement to compensation is governed by our conditions of carriage which you have accepted. In this case you are not entitled to anything. If, as you say, you find the conditons unsatisfactory, why did you accept them in the first place? I would be curious to know if you would reimburse any of your patients who do not get well after seeing you? If you don't, why not?

4. We are not providing you with the statistics you are requesting for. Perhaps in the medical profession you are used to dispensing information on how long you make your patients wait or how often you misdiagnosed.

5. I am not aware of any particular pattern of cancellations/delays. If this could be foreseen in advance believe me it would not have happened.

Regards

Irwin Tan

GM Corporate Service

Dr Thorburn's original letter to Rex

Dear Sir

I wish to complain about the service provided by Regional Express to Griffith in particular.

For about 20 years now I have been providing a cardiology outpatient service at Griffith Hospital on a Friday.

Over the years there has been a deterioration in the reliability of the service and the ability of REX to inform its passengers and provide reasonable alternatives for getting customers back to Sydney.

On Friday May 25, having flown down to Griffith on the morning flight, we arrived at the airport for the last afternoon flight back to Sydney.

It turned out that the plane was stuck at Narrandera. Information for this was provided by passengers who received mobile calls from customers on the flight from Narrandera.

Eventually we were informed by the ground staff at Griffith that the plane needed repairs and that engineers were being flown out from Wagga to Narrandera and in the meantime we should go on a bus to Narrandera.

Why this decision was made remains a mystery.

When we got to Narrandera the plane was still not operational but eventually it was thought to be safe, although the alternative plane was considered only fit to fly engineers and not passengers.

In any case the plane took off with the stranded Narrandera passengers and flown to Griffith.

An hour later the plane returned but was unable to land for a quarter of an hour and when it finally did so was stuck on the runway.

After another hour or so the plane was moved off the runway, further work was done on it. All this time we were provided virtually no information.

- The Area News