REX to start with three Boeing 737s at launch

REX SAAB 340B VH-EKX (CN 257)      File Photo

Regional airline Rex is pressing ahead with plans to launch Boeing 737 flights between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in direct competition with Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar on the country’s most popular domestic routes. Sources inside Rex tell Executive Traveller that the airline intends to begin a recruitment drive in September this year to crew the new jets. As previously reported, the aircraft themselves will come from Virgin Australia’s leased fleet and are being sourced through a former Virgin lessor which now finds itself on the long list of creditors owned almost $7 billion by the collapsed airline. Many of Virgin’s Boeing 737 pilots, flight attendants and engineers who face redundancy in the downsized airline are believed to be on Rex’s call sheet, including those previously attached to Virgin’s now-closed New Zealand base. Virgin's pre-pandemic Boeing 737 fleet numbered 85 (including the jets assigned to its now-axed budget arm Tigerair), but it's understood that only around 40 of those are owned by the airline, leaving as many again of the workhorse single-aisle jets under lease – and they won't all be needed for the downsized Virgin Australia 2.0. "How many we are taking through and how many we will need in the future is still a work in progress," Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah has said. "At the end of this pandemic, once we get back to pre-Covid FY19 levels, we see a market that could sustain us having 60-80 Boeing 737s in our fleet," Scurrah added, implying that the short-term 'reboot' fleet will be substantially lower. 

REX SAAB 340B VH-REX (CN 384)        File Photo

Three Boeing 737s at launch
Rex, who has an all SAAB 340B fleet (57 in total) intends to start small, with as few as three Boeing 737s plying the 90-minute Sydney-Melbourne and Sydney-Brisbane corridors.
You can understand why Rex wants to jump on board with this as Australia claims two of the world’s busiest flight routes. Before Covid, Melbourne to Sydney was the second busiest domestic route in the world, with almost 150 flights each day - or an annual total of 54,000 flights each year.
Sydney to Brisbane claimed the twelfth spot, with 92 flights each day - or an annual total of 33,443 flights each year.

Story sourced from here with additions

https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/rex-boeing-737-sydney-melbourne-brisbane