Australia’s largest independent regional and domestic airline Rex has fallen into administration.
Flights between major airports have been cancelled, with Rex’s domestic fleet of Boeing 737s all grounded
Qantas and Virgin Australia are offering offering impacted Rex passengers free of charge rebooking.
Regional flights operated by Saab 340 turboprops are currently unaffected by the administration and will continue to operate, according to a statement from administrators Ernst & Young.
As Australia’s third-largest airline, Rex has a fleet of 58 Saab 340 and 10 Boeing 737-800NG aircraft serving 56 destinations throughout all states in the country.
The voluntary liquidation comes just months after low-cost carrier Bonza suspended flights.
Rex arose from the ashes of the collapse of the Ansett Group when two of its regional airlines, Hazelton and Kendell Airlines, were rescued to form Rex in 2002.
By 2020 when the Covid pandemic decimated the global airline industry, Rex was already the largest regional airline in Australia with over 60 destinations.
“Even though badly affected by the pandemic, Rex took the bold step to commence domestic jet operations, starting with services in the golden triangle of Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane, in March 2021,” the airline’s website states.
Ernst & Young said: “The Rex Group has a long and proud history of servicing regional and remote communities across Australia.
“Virgin Australia has made an offer for Rex customers with an existing ticket on a flight cancelled due to the administration process the opportunity to transfer their ticket free of charge to 13 overlapping Virgin Australia services.
“Eligible customers will be re-accommodated on Virgin Australia flights as close as practicable to their original time of travel.
“Holders of affected tickets should not come to the airport until they have rebooked their flights.
“Rex and Virgin Australia are also exploring opportunities to support regional customers, which include Virgin Australia selling Rex’s regional services through codeshare or interline arrangements.
“The administrators would like to thank Virgin Australia on behalf of impacted Rex customers and regional communities for its support during this difficult time.”
Qantas said: “This is a challenging day for our industry and we are sad to see Rex enter voluntary administration with the immediate suspension of its Boeing 737 operations.
“We know this will be a difficult period for many Rex customers and employees and we stand ready to assist.
“Rex customers impacted by cancelled flights due to the grounding of their domestic jet services can contact Qantas and Jetstar to be re-accommodated on the same route as their original booking at no charge, where we have seats available.”