Pressure on Albo over key airline’s future

The Prime Minister says his government would look at “any proposals” to help Rex after the regional airline went into a trading halt on Monday, but took a shot at the carrier for running non-regional flights.

Speaking to reporters in Sydney, Anthony Albanese said Rex was an important airline which received “substantial government support with no conditions attached”.

“One of the things that I expressed concern about was that Rex moved away from their traditional role of being a regional airline into flights from Sydney to Melbourne,” Mr Albanese said.

“Rex as a regional airline provides important links with regional communities and particularly between capital cities and regional communities. It is important for those local economies.”

The prime minister’s comments came amid calls for his government to act as Rex’s future hangs in the balance.

Earlier, Transport Minister Catherine King said earlier the government was taking “very seriously” news the regional carrier had halted trading on Australia’s stock exchange.

The minister told Sunrise there “is a range of reasons why trading halts are put on companies”, adding she was seeking more information.

“It’s an incredibly important airline, and in many cases, the only airline going into a range of smaller country towns and are heavily reliant on it, King Island, for example,” she said.

“We are treating this very seriously and being very vigilant about what is happening and keeping an eye on the situation hour by hour.”

Rex – Regional Express Airlines – put through a request to the ASX for “an immediate trading halt” on Monday, saying it would make a “material announcement” related to a news article published over the weekend.

The trading halt is scheduled to expire at the start of trading on Wednesday.

The Australian has reported Rex was seeking help from accounting firm EY to turn around its finances following a leadership shake up earlier this year.

The move comes just months after start-up airline Bonza, which was also targeting regional destinations, went bust.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said the Albanese government must not allow Rex to go the same way as Bonza which failed in late April.

“It is time this government pulled its head out of the sand and starts pulling on the levers to foster more competition, better reliability and more affordable airfares in Australia,” she said in a statement.

“Two aviation companies control more than 93 per cent of the domestic space and companies like Rex create more competition which means cheaper airfares across the board.”

Senator McKenzie said the government should have acted six months ago to ensure the issue of access to Sydney Airport had been sorted, accusing it of running a ‘protection racket’ for Qantas.

“I don’t want to see Catherine King and Anthony Albanese wringing their hands,” she told Sky News.

“They’re responsible for this, they have the levers at hand. We need action not platitudes.”

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