The first Boeing 737 for Australian airline Regional Express (Rex) will be delivered to Sydney today ahead of operations starting next year and possible east-west flights.
The jet is the first of six being leased for east-coast operations but a veteran airline analyst suggests that if the venture is successful, as expected, Rex will look at transcontinental operations.
“Why would you stop at six - if they can make it work it could become 66,” the airline analyst said.
“Rex wants to become the second major airline and they have Virgin Australia in their sights.”
“And Virgin Australia has dropped the ball with its business class meal service already,” the airline analyst said.
“It has been a debacle.”
Ironically the six 737s are all ex Virgin Australia aircraft.
And the airline analysts says there will be a major fare war.
“This is going to get ugly with Rex having the lowest costs.”
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According to Routes Online, the other five 737s are scheduled to arrive over the next four months.
Three aircraft will be used to launch Rex flights on the Sydney-Melbourne route, which was among the world’s busiest domestic markets before the COVID-19 crisis.
The other three would be used to connect Brisbane with Sydney and Melbourne.
After that, the carrier intends to “continue to grow the domestic fleet in line with the return of passenger demand” with 10 by the end of 2021.
The airline hopes to gain approval in December to begin selling flight tickets.
Earlier this year Rex’s Deputy Chairman, John Sharp, said, “Rex has the biggest regional network in Australia and we are the only carrier in Australia that has been able to successfully navigate the turmoil and shocks over the last two decades with uninterrupted operational profits since 2003.”
“With Rex’s expansive regional network of 60 destinations, existing infrastructure in all these capital city airports, superior efficiencies and unbeatable reliability, it will simply be an incremental extension for Rex to embark on domestic operations especially since one out of every ten flights in Australia was already a Rex flight during the pre-COVID days.
Mr Sharp said that “Rex’s domestic operations will be priced at affordable levels but will also include baggage allowance, meals onboard, and pre-assigned seating.
Booking channels will include both Rex direct and Global Distribution Systems.
Lounge membership will be available for subscription. It will be a hybrid model that Rex has successfully pioneered over the past two decades.
Rex is Australia’s largest independent regional airline operating a fleet of 60 Saab 340 aircraft (pre-COVID) on some 1,500 weekly flights to 60 destinations throughout all states in Australia.
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