Trading in shares of Australian carrier Regional Express (Rex Airlines) has been paused amid recent boardroom turmoil and reports a restructuring team has been put in place at the airline.
Rex, which embarked on a post-Covid expansion into jet operations, has struggled to secure profitability since the pandemic. While it cut losses for the first half covering the six months ending December 2023 to A$3.2 million ($2.1 million), it did not provide full-year guidance saying “escalating costs, especially fuel” made it difficult to predict profitability.
The request by Rex to suspend share trading until at least 31 July pending an announcement comes amid a report in The Australian that a financial services team from Deloitte has been called into the airline.
It is also set against backdrop of boardroom wrangling. Former executive chair Lim Kim Hai, one of the airline’s founding directors, stepped down from the role in June. But earlier this month he filed a notice to remove four of the airline’s six directors.
Rex operates Saab 340 turboprops and a growing fleet of Boeing 737-800s. In February it extended capacity cuts – first announced in 2023 – on its regional network, blaming “continuing dislocated supply chains” that have “heavily” impacted the availability of aircraft spares until the end of October.
Earlier this year another Australian carrier, low-cost start-up Bonza Airlines, was forced to cease operations and entered liquidation amid funding challenges.
