Australia airline Rex cuts jobs, cancels flights after calling in administrators

SYDNEY, – Australian airline Regional Express Holdings will cut hundreds of job after it entered voluntary administration, the second small airline to do so this year, in a move that will further concentrate the country’s aviation market.

Traditionally focused on servicing Australia’s vast regional areas, Rex in 2021 began flights in the lucrative “golden triangle” between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, which is dominated by Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia.

However the airline failed to dent their control of the market, which was over 90% in March, according to the competition regulator. On Tuesday, Rex called in administrators Ernst & Young.

The administrators will shutter the subsidiary which operates Rex’s Boeing 737 flights between major cities and make 360 workers redundant, according to the Transport Workers Union. A further 250 jobs will be cut elsewhere, it said.

Regional flights on its fleet of Saab 340 aircraft will continue.

Transport Minister Catherine King said the government had already provided Rex some support to keep its regional flights in the air but stopped short of guaranteeing a rescue package.

“I think it is fair to say that we would be reluctant to just throw money at the problem,” she said. “What we would want to do is ensure that there is a long term solution to the security of regional aviation.”

Rex has previously accused Qantas of engaging in “price gouging” on domestic routes and of “pillaging” its regional pilots, allegations Qantas has dismissed.

The collapse comes three months after budget airline Bonza shuttered and its fleet was repossessed by creditors.

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