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Transport Minister Catherine King has confirmed the government is assisting Rex after it went into voluntary administration on Tuesday night.
Speaking to ABC Radio National on Wednesday morning, the minister said the airline is “incredibly important” for regional travel but stressed that the government can’t step in and save Rex “at any cost”.
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It comes after Rex grounded all future 737-800 flights upon entering administration, but revealed its Saab 340B regional operations would continue to fly. The move followed days of speculation over its future.
“We’ve been talking to Rex, my department, all of yesterday. We know that there will be some seeking of support from Government, and we will take some time to work our way through that with the administrators. We want to do that properly,” said Minister King.
“They asked for some assistance to ensure that their operations can continue into the airports. So I called all of the airports, the major airports yesterday. They wanted to also make sure they could still access fuel supply and ground handling and those sorts of things. We helped facilitate some of that yesterday, and my department was working through that as well.
“They will come to us with specific asks. We will need to look at those in detail. I think it is fair to say that we would be reluctant to just throw money at the problem. What we would want to do is ensure that there is a long term solution to the security of regional aviation, and we will take time to work our way through that.”
In response to the collapse, Virgin Australia has stepped in to accommodate Rex passengers with free rebookings onto its flights.
In a statement, Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka called Rex’s administration “a difficult moment for Australian aviation” and “a reminder of the challenging nature of our industry”, and said affected Rex customers should contact Virgin before 14 August.
“Virgin Australia is also offering support to Rex employees who may be impacted by today’s announcement. People whose employment has been affected should visit the expression of interest form on our website to apply for open positions,” Hrdlicka said.
“Recognising the importance for regional Australians to have access to a comprehensive domestic and international network, Virgin Australia also intends to partner with Rex’s regional business to enable seamless access to Virgin Australia’s domestic and international destinations through potential codeshare or interline arrangements in the future.
“The team at Virgin Australia are thinking about everyone at Rex today, an airline with a proud and important role in Australian aviation, particularly for regional Australia.”
The larger airline has also agreed to take over the leases of three Rex 737s.
