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The federal government has hinted it might intervene if Rex looks in danger of collapse.
Rex entered a trading halt on Monday pending a material announcement by Wednesday. Speaking to ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday, Transport Minister Catherine King said she is ready to “see whether there’s any assistance or anything the Government needs to do” to help Rex but did not go into detail.
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“[It’s] a bit early to speculate what that will look like. We’re obviously putting some contingencies in place. We want to make sure that people continue to [see] service in regional areas,” Minister King said.
“Let’s wait to see what the announcement is tomorrow. But 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. And we think very clearly it’s important to keep regional aviation and regional connectivity.”
Minister King also told Channel 7’s Sunrise on Tuesday morning that the airline is in a “very different position to Bonza”.
“It owns its aeroplanes; it doesn’t lease its planes. It has been in a strong position and it’s difficult to speculate exactly what’s going to happen tomorrow. But obviously the trading halt has caused some concerns to people, and it’s up to Rex to be informing its customers,” she said.
“It’s operating its services today. It’s continuing to operate those as well. There’s been some instability in the board just recently that’s been reported.
“So we’re keeping an eye on it, but I do want to assure people that Rex in particular is an important airline for Australia. It is one of the airlines that – or one of the few airlines that flies into the regions. And we’re watching this situation very carefully.”
Speaking to the ABC on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he had spoken to Minister King on the issue and was hopeful Rex would “see its way through”.
“Rex is particularly important for regional communities, and there are a range of communities in NSW, in Queensland, in South Australia and right around the country that rely upon Rex, where Rex is the only airline to go to some of those destinations,” he said.
“The structure of Rex is that they have a Singapore connection, which has been important historically. They’ve come through COVID and received substantial government support.
“We will remain, of course, vigilant when it comes to this airline and continue to work with them because we want to see not just those jobs maintained, but we also want to see those communities continue to have access to aviation, that’s so important for their economy and for their way of life.”
