Australia's Regional Express (Rex) Acquiring Boeing 737s

Used to fly REX frequently,, Interesting to see them expand

It can only be good for consumers. QANTAS must have been thrilled to see Virgin go under, and it’s still unclear what direction the resurrected VA will take, eg, full-on domestic competition with QF, or something less than full-service. REX making these acquisitions should give QF and VA something to think about, even though it is very small by comparison.

I don't think this will last long. Many of us fly Rex because they are not a big airline. The personal service, the Rex lounge, and the ease of avoiding crowds and security checkpoints makes rex unique. And we have another major airline you are forgetting...Jet Star, of whom Rex will never be able to beat on price.

Everytime we get a third (Jetstar QF Low Cost) airline it's WAR! QF is a formidable opposition, due to Covid traffic drop for the first time has a fleet of small jets and ATR props based in Melbourne which could easily take on Rex on it's regional routes. Rex has a history of when QF comes to town it leaves, doesn't even try to compete. Bit of blood n guts in the industry and no mention of Alliance Airlines?

It will be interesting to see if REX expands its catering beyond its trademark “sweet or savoury?” in any intercapital routes! In markets where there is currently competition between REX and QantasLink, whilst REX is generally (but not always) cheaper, I find both the hard and soft products on the QLink better (especially the DH8-400s, although there is some fun to be had in the backwards facing seats 1E and 1F in the DH8-300!)

Anything that disrupts the Qantas dominance is a good thing for the consumer. Domestic airfares are quite outrageous in Australia. No single airline group should have 65-70% control of the domestic market.

"This is exciting for Australian consumers, as it means that there will essentially be three major domestic airlines in Australia."

Seems Lucky isn't aware of Jetstar (nor previously Tiger).

I'm based overseas, so it's not like I flew REX daily, but I have flown them several times. Okay for the regional routes, with no one else competing on most routes.

SYD-MEL is/was the 3rd biggest route in the world by passenger volume, so that's a good starting point for REX.

But it's a huge leap from Saabs to 738's, from points of view of capacity, engineering/maintenance and crew capability...and also probs gate access, as they have only had gates in the commuter terminals. Then again, I guess they can pick up many formerly Virgin Australia gates.

PS -

Alliance is the unspoken star in the Australian aviation industry. They are aggressive, and breaking the model. Queensland (Brisbane) is their base, with a great regional network, formerly the regional partner for Virgin...Brisbane has the best regional network in Australia, due to Queensland's regional economic strength compared to the other AU states.

Apparently according to executive traveller they are creating a new frequent flyer program to! All good news though!

It was a fairly big surprise when REX announced its plans to expand in the middle of a pandemic given that the history of third airlines in Australia is very grim (JQ is fully owned by QF and Tiger has just been euthanised by the new owners of VA, so they don't count).

REX won't try to compete with QF on quality or premium cabin experience, having seen VA nearly go under doing just that. I suspect they will try to use their regional network to provide single itinerary journeys with short layovers that aren't possible on QF or VA while offering good value, "cheap and cheerful" service.

QF obviously won't take this lying down (while VA will just be happy to keep the lights on), but how they respond will be interesting. QF could flood REX 737 routes with capacity, but they'd likely already have a dominate position on such routes anyway (e.g. SYD-MEL, SYD-BNE, MEL-BNE). Maybe QF tries to take REX on on regional routes instead.

They have said the planes have eight business class seats which they will retain.

They could also take the risk by joining one of the two remaining global alliances if their Singaporean owners are willing to the CAPEX risk for them.

On a positive note, REX does'nt have the negative "baggage" that VA had with the Star Alliance group (e.g VA being 'enemies' with NZ and UA) for the many Star Alliance "fans" out there.

Although SQ may (or may not) be a factor towards REX joining the Star Alliance, considering they're looking at restarting a scaled down codeshare/FF agreement with VA (minus the Velocity/Krisflyer point swap).

WEL Rex must have been able to get their hands on some pretty lean terms and condition type of leases on VAs former 737-800 s, and not surprisingly whichever aircraft leasing company’s have them, would be all out to get an airline into them so that they can at least get something for them as a lot better option than haveing them sit around and risk haveing them sent back to Boeing? Let’s hope that Rex have the background clout and strength to absorb any loses and keep all its bills paid up and stay upright
. We are actually a lucky country that we have an airline that operate a fleet of SAAB 340 Bs as they still remain a good reliable and versatile type of aircraft and they can both land and take off where a lot of jets can’t, so you need to keep those things in mind. And they are fuel efficient .