Australia’s Rex to stand-down workers

Rex – Regional Express (ZL, Wagga Wagga) has announced it will be forced to temporarily stand down employees because the latest round of COVID-19 lockdowns in New South Wales in June and ensuing border closures had significantly impacted its revenue.

“Rex will be implementing temporary stand-downs within the company after consultation with the shareholders. The number of such stand-downs will be released at the end of the week after the consultations,” the airline said in a statement.

On August 10, 2021, the regional carrier revised its financial forecast, saying it now faced a loss of AUD18 million Australian dollars (USD13.2 million) for the full financial year 2021, compared to the AUD15 million (USD11 million) loss it had expected in June 2021. The airline said it had taken no mitigating measures initially to mitigate the losses as the lockdowns were perceived to have been temporary.

The company said it would release more details when it announced its audited financial report on August 31, 2021, including an outlook for aviation in Australia in the months ahead.

The Australian Financial Review, citing a company-wide email at Rex, reported management had told staff it would stand down many from August 16, with the “short-term measure” to last into September. According to the email, affected workers would include pilots, engineers, ground handlers, sales, call centre, head office, and those in operational roles.

The Sydney Morning Herald earlier quoted John Sharp, Rex’s deputy chairman, as saying he thought that Qantas’s decision to stand-down 2,500 employees had been premature, given that airlines at the time had not yet known the full details of the federal government’s new Retaining Domestic Airline Capability scheme. The RDAC, announced last week, is intended to assist airlines to maintain core domestic aviation capabilities.

Rex’s move leaves Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane Int’l) as the only major domestic airline yet to stand-down staff. However, according to reports, the carrier was consulting with unions, and an announcement was also expected before the end of the week.