Thousands of Regional Express customers are scrambling to find new flights after the airline went into voluntary administration and cancelled trips between major cities.
Rex’s regional flights are operating as usual and Virgin Australia has chipped in to help get customers who have booked tickets to capital cities onto alternate flights free of charge.
Virgin Australia said 4,600 Rex customers had contacted them for assistance early Wednesday morning, and 500 had already been booked onto new flights.
Rex’s regional Saab 340 flights are unaffected and continue to operate but the 737 services – which cover major cities, including the busy Sydney-to-Melbourne route it began operating in 2021 – have been grounded.
All requests to Virgin for rebookings need to be made by 14 August 2024.
Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said Rex should have contacted affected customers by now and Virgin staff were ready to try and ease their confusion.
‘All they need to do is call and rebook their flight to show they’ve got a booking reference number from Rex that gives them the ability to rebook with us,’ she told ABC radio.
‘We’re trying to accommodate people as close to their time of departure as possible.’
Rex Airlines has entered voluntary administration and suspended all flights between major airports
Affected Rex customers can also visit the Virgin Australia website to rebook their tickets.
Rex and Virgin Australia are exploring ways to support regional customers, including Virgin selling Rex’s regional services through codeshare or interline arrangements, and making Virgin frequent flyer benefits available.
A statement posted on Rex’s website late on Tuesday said the administration affected parent company Regional Express Holdings Limited and a number of its subsidiaries trading under the Rex Group name.
Samuel Freeman, Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young Australia have been appointed joint administrators by the Rex board.
Rex employs about 2,000 people and Virgin is offering staff affected by the grounding of the 737s the chance to apply for open positions via the airline’s website.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine said it was a difficult day for Rex staff.
‘We again are in this situation… aviation seems to be in crisis,’ he told ABC TV.
‘What we want to do is figure out (with our) shoulder to the wheel, what we can do to minimise their angst… Virgin is putting steps in place to take expressions of interest from the workforce, and that’s really critical.’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was a ‘big relief’ that Rex will keep servicing regional areas while it’s in administration.
The federal government has had discussions with the airline about a support package, he added.
‘Obviously, there’s been discussions but… we want to hear next from the company,’ Dr Chalmers told ABC TV.
‘Our top priority (is) to make sure we can continue to serve and service regional communities and regional economies because we know how important it is – we’re prepared to play a constructive role.’
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese questioned the carrier’s expansion into major capital city routes.
He noted Rex had received substantial public funding during the pandemic with ‘no conditions attached’.
‘One of the things I expressed concern about was having no conditions, so Rex, for example, moved away from their traditional role of being a regional airline into flights, for example, from Sydney to Melbourne,’ Mr Albanese said.
Virgin Australia has offered passengers scheduled for Rex domestic 737 services free rebooking, but they must rebook by August 14
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said Rex’s foray into the capital cities market, including a recent Melbourne-to-Perth route, had increased competition between aviation players resulting in cheaper fares being offered by Qantas.
‘Let’s not continue to pretend that Qantas’s behaviour is acceptable in the aviation industry,’ Senator McKenzie said.
‘Every time they are challenged they seek to monster those airlines like Rex… who have sought to actually give Australians another way of travelling.’
Rex began servicing Sydney-to-Melbourne, one of the busiest routes in the world, in 2021.
Many regional communities rely on the carrier, which emerged 22 years ago following the collapse of Ansett.
Unlike Bonza, which went into voluntary administration in April, Rex mainly owns rather than leases its planes.
Rex’s key fleet comprises 61 SAAB 340s and seven leased Boeing 737-800s, out of 123 aircraft.
Since the pandemic, Rex has struggled with profitability. In February, it reported a bottom line net loss of $3.2 million for the first half of the 2023/24 financial year.
