Rex to add more planes by mid-year amid ‘shameless price gouging’ by Qantas

The airline is beefing up services with new planes, as Rex’s John Sharp hits out at Qantas for ‘shameless price gouging’.

Rex will add another two Boeing 737s to its domestic jet fleet by mid-year, as the airline prepares to boost frequencies on existing city routes.

The latest additions are ex-Singapore Airlines’ aircraft, and are due to arrive in June and July, taking Rex’s total narrow-body jet fleet to nine.

Rex deputy chairman John Sharp said the 737 services between major cities had been performing very strongly in the past four months, and making a profit.

“The travelling public has been crying out for our reliable and affordable services in light of shameless price gouging by Qantas, and these new additions will help to alleviate the situation,” Mr Sharp said.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has previously credited Rex with putting downward pressure on fares on major city routes after launching 737 services in early 2021.

The watchdog’s most recent airline monitoring report also highlighted how the withdrawal of Rex from Sydney-Canberra routes, saw airfares charged by Qantas and Virgin Australia jump almost immediately.

Mr Sharp said they were “still deciding” where the additional aircraft would be deployed but all options would be explored.

Rex was yet to include Perth in its domestic jet network, and appeared unlikely to do so in the short to medium term.

Instead, it was expected the jets would initially be used to increase frequency on popular “Golden Triangle” routes, and to boost resilience after Rex’s traditionally strong on time performance slipped in the last three months.

Other 737s in the Rex fleet are former Virgin Australia aircraft, and still sport the same cabin interior.

Rex will add another two Boeing 737s to its domestic jet fleet by mid-year, as the airline prepares to boost frequencies on existing city routes.

As well as the jets, Rex operates a fleet of 60 Saab 340s on regional routes which made a loss in December, according to the airline’s most recent ASX update.

The airline’s half year results will be announced on February 27, a few days after Qantas delivers what is expected to be a first half gain of around $1.5bn.

Virgin Australia has also indicated it’s back in the black under new owners Bain Capital to the tune of around $125m for the six months to December 2022.

Rex’s nine 737s will put the carrier ahead of new budget airline Bonza, which plans to expand its fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8s to eight by early 2024.

After its inaugural flight last month, the Sunshine Coast-based Bonza launched the first of more regular passenger services on Tuesday, starting with a return trip to Mackay.

Fares on the route start from $59 one way.

Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan said tickets had been selling well, and they hoped to put flights out of Melbourne on sale soon, including twice-weekly flights between Melbourne and Mackay.

The FlyBonza app is the only place where travellers can book fares at the moment.