Rex Airlines Pty Ltd is an Australian regional airline based in Mascot, New South Wales. It operates scheduled regional services using turboprop aircraft. Between 2021 and 2024, Rex also operated jet services between selected major Australian cities. In July 2024, it collapsed and was placed into voluntary administration, which it exited in December 2025 after its acquisition by American airline holding company Air T.
It is the primary subsidiary of Regional Express Holdings, itself owned by American airline holding company Air T. Rex is Australia's second-largest regional airline by number of regional destinations, serving 45 regional destinations, behind QantasLink, who serve 55 regional destinations across Australia.
On 30 July 2024, the airline ceased all bookings for domestic jet service routes to capital cities and fell into voluntary administration, appointing joint administrators from EY. It came one day after Rex requested a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), amid fears the airline could halt all operations. Rex continues to regional services with the Government of Australia having underwritten its continuing operations.
In September 2024, two months after the commencement of the administration, no buyer was found, with fears the company could be liquidated.
In October 2025, administrator EY entered a sale agreement with Air T to purchase the airline. The sale was completed on 18 December 2025.
History
thumb|left|Rex's facility at [[Wagga Wagga Airport in June 2008]]
The airline was established in 2002 when the Australiawide Airlines consortium (set up by former Ansett Australia employees) acquired Hazelton Airlines and Kendell Airlines, before merging the companies and starting operations as Rex in August 2002. In 2005, Australiawide Airlines was renamed Regional Express Holdings and partially floated on the Australian Securities Exchange. On 30 November 2005, Rex announced the acquisition of the Dubbo-based Air Link, another regional airline.
In October 2007, Rex expanded into Queensland when it commenced operations between Brisbane and Maryborough. This exacerbated an existing problem within the company of not having enough pilots to crew its flights (due to the expansion of larger airlines, especially Jetstar and Virgin Blue), and Rex suspended operations out of Brisbane (and from Sydney to Cooma during the summer "low season" for this route to the NSW ski fields) in November 2007. To provide a medium-term solution to the pilot shortage, Rex announced that it was establishing a cadet-pilot flight-training programme.
In November 2015, Rex announced the resumption of services to the NSW Snowy Mountains in conjunction with Snowy Mountains Airport Corporation, with the flights resuming in March 2016. In December 2015, Rex announced that it would be commencing operations in Western Australia in February the following year after being selected by the Government of Western Australia to be the operator of regulated RPT routes after a tender process. Initially operating from Perth to Albany and Esperance, in July 2018 the Western Australian operations expanded to include Carnarvon and Monkey Mia. It brought Rex's weekly flights to roughly 1,500 across 60 destinations.
Starting on 6 April 2020, Rex significantly scaled back all its regional services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing to only offer government-subsidised services within Queensland and Western Australia and one flight a week between all 54 regional and remote communities within its route network. Services including Adelaide to Port Augusta, Sydney to Newcastle and Sydney to Armidale were suspended.
In June 2020, eyeing the demise of Tigerair Australia, Rex announced interest in expanding into the domestic airline market between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Rex leased six Boeing 737-800s previously leased by Virgin Australia to operate the new services, with the first delivered in November 2020. The first jet operations began on 1 March 2021 on the Melbourne to Sydney route. Also in June 2020, Rex announced that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with ATR to explore options for replacing the Saab 340 fleet with ATR 42 and ATR 72 aircraft. Following the airline's launch of jet services in March 2021, Rex replaced the announced Brisbane jet services in early April with services to Adelaide and Gold Coast, with the start of services occurring between 29 March and 1 April. The airline later cancelled all 737 flights and went into administration.