Australian regional airline Rex to launch more flights amid Covid-19

Regional Express Holdings Ltd (Rex) said on Monday it would start flights to Adelaide and Australia’s Gold Coast by April 1 as it begins to challenge Qantas Airways Ltd and Virgin Australia on the country’s big-city routes.

The airline’s first Melbourne-Sydney flights are planned for Monday morning, at a time when domestic air traffic remains low due to the pandemic.

Rex had previously planned to launch Sydney-Brisbane flights next to add a second route highly popular with business travellers, but it said it would instead launch the more leisure-oriented Melbourne-Adelaide, Sydney-Gold Coast and Melbourne-Gold Coast routes in time for the Easter long weekend in early April.