Capital city routes grounded, regional still operating
Regional airline Rex will continue flying in regional Australia despite being placed into administration. But its attempt to expand into the lucrative market flying between Australia’s major cities is over with more than six hundred staff expected to lose their jobs. It's the second small airline to fail within a matter of months.
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00:00At Gold Coast Airport this morning, Rex passengers turned up, only to be turned away.
00:07I didn't want to book with Rex because I didn't know much about them, and then, yeah, 24 hours
00:12later this happens.
00:14Virgin offered to honour their cancelled flights.
00:17We're able to re-book on a flight via Sydney, so it's taking us much longer to get home
00:21than expected.
00:22Rex's new fleet of 737s has been permanently grounded, putting an end to the airline's
00:29challenge to Qantas and Virgin on the routes between Australia's capital cities.
00:34Rex has nearly been monstered out of the market by Qantas, only four weeks after Bonza was,
00:41and we've got to deal with those competitive pressures.
00:44The union says more than 600 jobs are likely to go, although some staff will be taken on
00:50by Virgin and Qantas.
00:52Rex is still flying, but it's now back to its beginnings as a purely regional airline,
00:58with an uncertain future.
00:59So the administrators have been able to secure funding to enable us to see those regional
01:03operations continue through the period of the administration, whilst we undertake a
01:07restructure and seek interest in the company to take it forward.
01:10Our view very firmly is that we want regional aviation to continue.
01:16In some instances, it is the only service, only possibility that is available for people
01:21to get in and out to get to medical appointments.
01:24The federal government says it's too soon to say what a possible Rex rescue might look
01:29like, but one option could be partial public ownership.
01:34I don't think anything can be ruled out because the stakes are massive for regional New South
01:37Wales.
01:38These are absolutely vital connections for country people, for country families being
01:43able to travel into the bigger cities.
01:46The administrator says employees should know their future within days.
01:50I feel sorry for the staff, to be honest, because nobody knows what they're doing.
01:54It's all just very up in the air.