Rex halts 737 flight booking as crisis deepens ahead of announcement on airline’s future

The Rex crisis is deepening, with flight bookings on 737 services suspended and employees refused access to a hotel due to unpaid bills.

Rex has suspended bookings on its 737 services, with flights beyond Tuesday coming up as unavailable on the embattled carrier’s website.

As a trading halt continues ahead of an announcement on the airline’s future, Rex’s management appears to have already determined the 737 operations will not go on.

The airline has nine Boeing 737s, which were leased at the height of the pandemic to launch domestic services in competition with Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar.

A Rex employee speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed online bookings of 737 services had ceased.

In a further example of Rex’s dire financial situation, the worker said crew members had been refused entry to a company-designated hotel at Brisbane Airport due to unpaid bills.

“The hotel manager informed them that Rex’s accounts had been suspended due to unpaid bills,” said the employee.

“Currently, employees have not received any official communication regarding these issues.”

Despite funding of $150m from Asian private investment firm PAG, Rex’s 737 services have struggled to make money in a climate of high costs and competitive fares.

A Rex 737 in the skies over Melbourne. Picture: William West/AFP

Rex’s most recent results for the six months to December 2023, showed its regular public transport operations had lost over $25m, or almost $1m a week.

The worsening financial situation led to the engagement of EY Australia to examine Rex’s books, with the company expected to be appointed as administrators to the carrier.

An announcement was expected late Tuesday or Wednesday on Rex’s future, in an effort to provide certainty for customers and the airline’s 2000 employees.

As well as major city routes, Rex operates services to more than 40 regional centres, including some of the most remote towns in the country.

Transport Minister Catherine King told the ABC on Tuesday, the government was keeping a close eye on Rex and “stood ready”.

“You know, we think Rex is a pretty important part of the Australian aviation industry and stand ready to work with them to see whether there’s any assistance or anything the government needs to do,” said Ms King.

She would not be drawn on whether that would involve a cash injection but said the government wanted to make sure that people in regional areas were serviced with flights.

“What I would say is anything that the government did, or if we were to do so, would really be looking at what is in the public interest to do,” Ms King said.

And we think very clearly it’s important to keep regional aviation and regional connectivity.”

Rex shares last traded at 56.5c, just above their pandemic low of 54c.

Originally published as Rex halts 737 flight booking as crisis deepens ahead of announcement on airline’s future