REGIONAL EXPRESS: Why REX Airlines collapsed into administration — Four Corners documentary — 'Flight Club' tonight - 2PAXfly - Travel News, Airline Flight and Hotel Reviews

This Monday at 8:30pm AEST, ABC Australia is broadcasting a Four Corners documentary on the demise of REX (Regional Express) Airlines, which ceased capital city flying and went into administration in the middle of 2024.

food on a tray — Business Class meal unboxed. Beef Pie with grilled tomato, broccoli and asparagus, tomato sauce, brown bread roll, butter and berry friand & chocolate mint [Schuetz/2PAXfly]

It sounds juicy, partly because it documents the tension between the Board, led by Deputy chair and ex-politician John Sharp, and Singaporeian-based businessman and former REX Chair Lim Kim Hai. The publicity materials show that the documentary makers interviewed both for the piece.

a row of blue seats on an airplane — Economy Cabin REX Boeing 737-800 [Schuetz/2PAXfly]

What it covers

From ABC Four Corners website coverage, here are the three major points the program will cover:

Micromanagement
Lim seems to be a bit of a micromanager. The program provides an example of him chiding an employee for printing a presentation in colour instead of black and white.
Mistaken vision
REX based its move into capital city flying on a perception of a gap — a gap that wasn’t really there since Virgin Australia was revived after going into administration during the pandemic
Conflict at the top
Chair, Deputy Chair, the board and major shareholders were at loggerheads with differing views on promotion and the running of the airline. The powerplay hog-tied the airline and prevented any strategy adaptation to changing circumstances.
QANTAS and Jetstar’s monopolistic behaviour
Qantas Group is alleged to have undermined REX by challenging it on regional routes. It also ran additional capital city flights through Jetstar. Qantas denies this allegation, arguing that the market required additional capacity.
Stolen aircraft
Jet Midwest, a USA company, accuses REX of stealing aircraft and reducing them to parts while only paying a deposit. The matter is now in front of the Supreme Court of NSW.
Planned sell-off turns into administration
REX had planned to sell its capital city operations to Virgin Australia. The deal was apparently done, but it was then upended, which led to the eventual calling in of the administrators and put 600 jobs at risk.

a seat in an airplane — My Business Class Seat 2C on REX Airlines flight between Adelaide and Sydney [Schuetz/2PAXfly]

2PAXfly Takeout

How corporate maneuvers sound more like schoolyard scuffles that turn into brawls, amazes me. It’s sort of Mean Girls meets Grease, with a side of American Grafitti and Rommy and Michele’s High School Reunion.

There is the same name-calling, petty quarrels and ridiculous turf wars over reputation and power.

The losers here are not particularly the board members and major shareholders, who are merely paying for their amusement. It’s the minor shareholders (like me) who lose, and most of all, it’s the flying public who ends up with higher airfares because of lost competition.

Glued to my TV set tonight. Watch Four Corners ‘Flight Club’ on ABC 2 or iView. If you are outside Australia, you may have success with a VPN, or catch part of the program on the ABC’s YouTube channel.