Australia’s third largest airline has entered voluntary administration.
Rex’s first Boeing 737-800 passenger flight, between Melbourne and Sydney, on 1 March 2021. (Photo: Rex)
Regional Express, better known as Rex, has grounded all of its Boeing 737 aircraft. The airline will no longer fly between Australia’s major cities. However, Rex has said that its flights to and from regional cities, which use smaller Saab 340 turboprops, will continue as normal.
This comes just months after the collapse of Australia’s budget carrier Bonza. A statement posted on Rex’s website says it had appointed Ernst and Young as administrators.
The collapse of Rex would have dire consequences for Australia. The Sydney-based airline provides a lifeline for many smaller centers across the country. Rex serves 56 destinations, most of them remote. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the media that he had called for more information from the airline.
“Rex is particularly important for regional communities and there are a range of communities where Rex is the only airline serving some of those destinations,” Albanese said.
“Rex as a regional airline provides important links with regional communities and particularly between capital cities and regional communities. It is important for those local economies,” he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when Virgin Australia’s future was looking uncertain, Rex scaled up operations. It launched services between the major Australian cities.
Having only small turboprop planes in its operating fleet, Rex had to lease some Boeing 737 aircraft from the embattled Virgin Australia, to operate its new routes. But with fewer frequencies, lower brand recognition, and two formidable competitors – Qantas and Virgin Australia, Rex has battled to compete.
Speaking to the media Albanese said that the Australian government would consider proposals to support the airline. He mentioned that Rex’s expansion on some of the more competitive routes within Australia may not have been in the airline’s best interests.
“One of the things that I expressed concern about was that Rex moved away from their traditional role of being a regional airline into flights from Sydney to Melbourne,” Albanese said.
Competitor, Virgin Australia has said it will allow Rex passengers with tickets on Boeing 737-operated flights to transfer these to its services. Furthermore, Virgin Australia has invited Rex employees to apply for jobs with the airline.
“The team at Virgin Australia are thinking about everyone at Rex today, an airline with a proud and important role in Australian aviation, particularly for regional Australia,” the Virgin spokesman said.
In a statement on Rex’s website, the airline says it is working with Virgin Australia to alleviate problems for passengers.
“An agreement has been reached with Virgin Australia to honour all prepaid tickets for the Rex Group’ direct services between domestic capital cities, at no additional cost to passengers,” Rex says.
The airline will accommodate Rex’s passengers with certain tickets on its flights. Virgin Australia also has taken over three aircraft leases from Rex.
“If you hold a prepaid ticket for future travel on any of these routes, you can transfer your Rex booking to a similar Virgin Australia flight,” Rex added.
However, customers must re-book their flight by Wednesday, August 14 or they will lose their money. Customers can continue to make bookings at rex.com.au or via their travel agent.
“Regional flights are unaffected by the administration and will continue to operate as normal,” it stated.
Receive a daily dose of the airline industry's top stories along with market insights right in your inbox.
Matthew Klein, chief commercial officer at Spirit Airlines, said Wednesday that other airline CEOs were “trying to put [Spirit] out…
Sunday saw over 3.08 million passengers navigate bustling U.S. airports and TSA checkpoints in a record-breaking day for airline traffic,…
Industry experts are analyzing what Spirit’s recent bankruptcy filing could mean for the carrier and the market at large. Spirit…
