Australia's Rex gears up to take on Qantas

Regional Express Holdings, a carrier which operates small turboprop planes to outlying towns in Australia, on Friday took delivery of its first jet as it gears up to operate between the country's major cities in direct competition with Qantas and Virgin, which itself is attempting a revival under new ownership. "The thought of going into the [big city] domestic market has been bouncing around in our heads for a long time," Deputy Chairman John Sharp said. "The COVID pandemic, accompanied by the collapse of Virgin, created for us the perfect opportunity." With Qantas and Virgin together cutting more than 11,000 jobs and grounding hundreds of flights, Regional Express, known as Rex, hopes to step into the gap. "There are plenty of pilots, cabin crew, engineers and support staff that we could engage in the business," Sharp said. "Normally, we are desperately short of pilots. So [this has] presented a unique opportunity to acquire the people and the planes to commence a domestic service. Normally the airports are congested [and] slots are unavailable." But now, he said, "there's oodles of space at airports, plenty of slots for landing and taking off." Rex, backed by an AU$150m investment from Hong Kong private equity group PAG, has leased six former Virgin Boeing 737-800 NG jets with an eye toward starting flights between Sydney and Melbourne on March 1. The route was the world's fifth-busiest passenger route last year according to data provider OAG Aviation Worldwide. Other routes connecting state capitals would follow, along with up to four other planes by the end of 2021.<br/>