The voluntary administration of Australian airline Rex will affect 11 domestic routes, though each will continue to be served by other operators.
As reported by Aviation Week, the airline filed to enter administration on July 30, with Ernst & Young appointed to handle the case. The airline’s jet operations have been grounded immediately, although its regional turboprop services will continue to operate normally during the administration process.
Rex was this week scheduled to serve 11 intercity routes using its fleet of nine Boeing 737-800s, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows.
Seven of the services were from Melbourne—to Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Gold Coast, Perth and Sydney—alongside flights from Sydney to Adelaide, Brisbane and Gold Coast. The only route not to touch Melbourne or Sydney was due to operate between Adelaide and Brisbane.
In total, the carrier was scheduled to fly some 55,600 weekly seats using its 737-800s—about 31% of which were due to be offered between Melbourne and Sydney. However, unlike the recent administration of fellow Australian airline Bonza—which left almost 30 domestic routes without nonstop flights—all airport pairs operated by Rex’s 737s will continue to be served.
Rex entered the jet market in March 2021, operating its first 737 flights between Sydney and Melbourne. As the carrier’s fleet grew, so did the number of trunk routes served.
By early 2023, the airline offered seven jet routes, with flights between Adelaide-Sydney, Adelaide-Brisbane and Melbourne-Hobart added later in the year. The latest route addition between Melbourne and Perth commenced in June this year.
Overall, OAG figures show that Rex was scheduled to be the fourth-largest domestic carrier in Australia this week, with a 6.2% share of all departure seats. Qantas is the largest with a 39.3% share, followed by Virgin Australia on 31.3% and Jetstar on 20.2%.
Given that Rex will continue to provide turboprop flights using its fleet of about 40 Saab 340 aircraft, the schedules data suggests that it will maintain a domestic capacity share of about 2.5%.
Some of Rex’s subsidiaries are not included in the voluntary administration. These include the Pel-Air air ambulance service and the Australian Airline Pilot Academy.
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