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Virgin has agreed to take the leases of three Rex 737s following the smaller carrier’s collapse into administration.
The news caps a sensational turnaround after Rex took the leases of old Virgin aircraft following its own collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
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Regional Express confirmed it had handed over control to EY on Tuesday at 10pm in a move that will see its capital city services effectively grounded.
“These aircraft will be used to support Virgin Australia’s existing published schedules,” Virgin said.
“It will also provide us with capacity to respond if market growth accelerates faster than currently anticipated.
“Securing these three aircraft will have the additional benefit of enabling Virgin Australia to hire more cabin crew and pilots, creating jobs that will be made available for impacted Rex employees.”
The news came after Virgin said it would step in to fly passengers booked on cancelled Rex flights.
“Virgin Australia has made an offer for Rex customers with an existing ticket on a flight cancelled due to the administration process the opportunity to transfer their ticket free of charge to the 13 overlapping Virgin Australia services,” EY said in a statement.
“Rex and Virgin Australia are also exploring opportunities to support regional customers, which include Virgin Australia selling Rex’s regional services through code share or interline arrangements, and making Velocity Frequent Flyer benefits available to Rex’s regional customers.”
The Australian Financial Review reported that Rex has “secured a credit line from the federal government to ensure its regional flights did not fail” but wouldn’t compete with Qantas and Virgin on established routes.
It added an “emergency board meeting” on Tuesday night, which saw Rex directors agree to stop flying the larger jets.
Australian Aviation reported in March how Virgin would face significant delays to its 737 MAX order due to the ongoing troubles at Boeing.
The airline, which received its fourth MAX 8 – VH-8ID – on 13 March, is staring down potential late arrivals of 31 new 737 MAX aircraft, including six MAX 8s and all 25 of its MAX 10s, owing to increased production delays across all Boeing aircraft types.
