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Rex is alleged to have stolen four Saab planes from an Arizona boneyard in 2020, according to a lawsuit before the NSW Supreme Court.
As reported in The Australian Financial Review, an American leasing and maintenance firm, Jet Midwest, has claimed the airline stripped the four planes at Kingman Airport for parts – including engines and propellers – and scrapped the airframes despite not having paid for them in full.
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Jet Midwest alleges that Rex had agreed to buy the aircraft for US$2 million in 2019 and paid a US$200,000 deposit but asked for more time to pay the rest due to a loss of earnings from COVID-19. The firm claims that Rex had not made a payment by June 2020, thus voiding the contract, but took possession of and disassembled the planes regardless in October of that year.
Court filings cited by the Financial Review claim that Rex told spare parts provider 340 Aviation Services to “cut the wings off the airframes and to scrap the airframes”, taking some of the profits from the sale of parts from the aircraft.
Jet Midwest is now suing Rex for US$7.2 million, or around AU$10.8 million, plus legal costs, with the case to be heard in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday morning.
The allegations come not long after Australian Aviation revealed four Saab 340Bs, registered VH-RXE, VH-ZLX, VH-ZJS, and VH-ZRH, were advertised through global firm C&L before administrator EY Australia took control of the airline even though the planes were still flying key regional routes.
The aircraft were listed for sale despite the carrier cutting services earlier this year because of a lack of aircraft parts and labour; EY Australia told Australian Aviation the planes have since been taken off the market.
Rex has continued service on its regional network despite the axing of its domestic jet operations after it entered voluntary administration, with Virgin Australia having picked up the leases on three of its former 737-800s.
EY Australia last month won approval in the Federal Court to extend its appointment as administrator until 25 November as it continues a sale process. Administrator Sam Freeman said shortly after his appointment that EY wanted to present sale options to creditors within 25 working days.
“It’s very much our intention not to have a prolonged administration period,” he said.
EY has been contacted for comment.
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says:If anyone wants to buy REX now, it looks like the price has just gone down and the liabilities possibly up.