Rex ready to battle Qantas, Virgin on Sydney-Melbourne
Regional Express will dedicate its first six Boeing 737 jets to the Sydney-Melbourne route from March 2021, before growing its fleet and capital city network from the second half of the year.
It’s a brazenly ambitious assault on Australia’s hyper-competitive corridor – the industry’s crown jewel for corporate and leisure travel – which will put Rex against muscle-bound incumbent Qantas and a streamlined Virgin Australia.
The first of six Boeing 737s – all previously leased to Virgin Australia – is now being readied for delivery to Rex’s Sydney base, where it will be used for ground training as well as venturing into the sky for proving flights (still in a de-branded white livery) in early December.
At least three jets – one of them said to the airline’s nominal flagship, bearing the registration VH-REX, which is currently assigned to a Saab 340B – will take part in the March 1 launch of Sydney-Melbourne flights, with three more now slated to be in place by early April.
Those six Boeing 737s all date from the Virgin Blue era and carry an average age of 11.5 years, predating the release of the later Virgin Australia aircraft featuring the modern 'Boeing Sky Interior'.
'Virgin not in our cross-hairs'
Executive Traveller understands these ex-Virgin jets will largely be flown by ex-Virgin pilots, backed by ex-Virgin attendants and ex-Virgin engineers.
Even Rex’s internal Project Mother codename for its capital city push was a nod to the Brisbane-based challenger, because “Mother is the opposite of Virgin” chuckles Rex deputy chairman John Sharp.
All the same, Sharp insists that Rex doesn’t have specifically Virgin Australia in its cross-hairs.
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