Government protects Rex’s Sydney slots

“As you’d be aware, my department’s been engaging closely with the Rex administrators since the process began, and we made obviously the announcement on 15 August of a guarantee of regional flight bookings,” she said.

“Today, I am also directing the slot manager at Sydney Airport to suspend the application of the use-it-or-lose-it test on Rex regional New South Wales slot holdings for the current and upcoming scheduling season. This will protect Rex’s New South Wales regional slots at Sydney Airport until late March 2026.

“As the administration process continues, the government, of course, remains absolutely committed to supporting our regional communities to ensure that they stay connected to our major capital city destinations, and I’ll provide any further updates as they come to hand.”

In a media release, the minister added that this suspension of the so-called “80/20 rule”, in which an airline must use a take-off slot 80 per cent of the time or lose it, will help support regional communities’ access to air travel.

“While this direction is in place, I expect Rex to hand back any slots that it does not intend to use for other airlines to operate in the upcoming scheduling season,” she said.

“This will ensure other airline operators are not deprived of the ability to use unutilised slots.”

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The move comes after Minister King announced earlier this month that passengers on all regional flights booked through Rex since it entered administration at 9:31pm on 30 July will “either fly or get their money back”.

“This will give customers confidence to continue booking regional flights with Rex – flights that allow them to stay connected to family, friends, healthcare and other services – while also helping to maintain regional aviation in Australia,” she said at the time.

The minister has repeatedly indicated that the government does not want Rex to fail, given its importance to regional communities.

“Rex operates one of Australia’s largest regional air networks and provides essential connectivity to move people and critical freight on 41 routes to regional and remote communities, including 21 routes that are only serviced by Rex,” she said in mid-August.

“Rex’s continuation is in the best interests of Australia – and the government is working closely with the administrators to ensure a strong regional aviation presence now and into the future.”

Take-off slots have been blamed as one reason for the failure of Rex’s domestic jet operations, with former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Rod Sims several weeks ago claiming Rex and Bonza had been forced to “ask for [key slots] from Qantas and Virgin”, an assertion rebuked by Petra Popovac, CEO of slot management company Airport Coordination Australia (ACA).

The government is putting slot management at Sydney Airport out to tender, with ACA saying it welcomes the process.

Rex administrator EY Australia has been contacted for comment.