Aussie airline's shock collapse
Australia's third largest airline Regional Express, better known as Rex, has entered voluntary administration.
The airline will ground all its Boeing 737 jets and cease flying immediately between Australia’s major cities, as Rex struggled to compete with Qantas and Jetstar for customers.
In response to the cancellation, Virgin has said it will allow Rex customers with tickets on 737 flights to transfer them to its services.
Rex began connecting major cities during the pandemic, but was unable to keep up with other airlines who were more known for servicing Aussie capital cities.
While flights to major cities with Rex will cease, the airline confirmed that its flights to and from regional cities, which use smaller Saab 340 turboprops, will continue as normal.
The airline currently serves 56 destinations around Australia, many of them remote.
In response to the cancelled flights, Qantas and Virgin Australia shared a statement saying they were “sad” for the “difficult” day.
“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,” a spokesperson for Qantas said.
“We know this will be a difficult period for many Rex customers and employees and we stand ready to assist.”
The spokesperson said Rex customers impacted by cancelled flights due to the grounding of their domestic jet services can contact Qantas and Jetstar to be reaccommodated on the same route as their original booking at no charge, where seats available.
In a statement on the Rex website, the stricken airline said it was working with Virgin Australia to assist impacted 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.
“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.”
Customers must re-book their flight by Wednesday August 14th or they will lose their money.
“Regional flights are unaffected by the administration and will continue to operate as normal,” it stated.
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