Australia-based carrier Regional Express (Rex Airlines) will add two Boeing 737-800 NextGeneration (NG) aircraft on lease.
The aircraft will be delivered at different times, with one 737-800 arriving by the end of July 2023 and the other expected by mid-September 2023. The former is scheduled to enter service in mid-August 2023.
Rex plans to begin daily flights between Hobart International Airport (HBA), Tasmania and Melbourne Airport (MEL) on August 17, 2023. The daily flights between the two airports will begin seven weeks after the airline started to operate flights between Sydney Airport (SYD) and Adelaide Airport (ADL).
“The arrival of these new aircraft is yet another step in fulfilling our ambition to fly to, and between, every capital city in Australia,” said John Sharp, the deputy chairman of Rex Airlines, revealing that an additional two 737-800NG aircraft should also bolster the carrier’s fleet by the end of 2023.
Sharp said that the company believes its growth should be done “in a measured way” to ensure “capacity meets demand”. However, he added that he believes Rex Airlines should remain flexible because “aviation is a dynamic industry where the only constant is change”.
“Rex currently has flights to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra, as well to the Gold Coast and we invite expressions of interest from other cities who want a share of Rex’s trademark reliability and country hospitality at affordable fares,” Sharp concluded.
With a fleet of 58 Saab 340 turboprops and seven Boeing 737-800NG jets, Rex Airline currently flies to 57 destinations across Australia. Most recently, it expressed its ambition to transport Australian researchers from the country to the Antarctic.