Rex has confirmed that it will operate National Jet Express as an independent brand after the proposed takeover.

Australian regional specialist Rex's move into fly-in fly-out (FIFO) charter services is moving closer to completion. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given the official go-ahead to Rex's takeover of National Jet Express, meaning the only outstanding approval is from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Rex is buying National Jet Express (NJE) from Cobham Aviation Services Australia (Cobham) for about A$48 million ($33.2 million). NJE is a leading provider of FIFO services to remote resource operations, freight operations from Sydney across Australia and an air charter operator in Papua New Guinea. In 2021 NJE's revenue was A$142 million ($98 million). Included in the purchase are eight Bombardier Q400 turboprops and six Embraer E190s, currently used for FIFO work by NJE. These will sit alongside the Rex fleet of 60 Saab 340s and six Boeing B737-800s, although it's intended the two airlines will operate independently.

Rex executive chairman Lim Kim Hai told Flightglobal that he expects the takeover to be wrapped up by September, and the [FIFO] unit will keep its branding and not fly under the Rex brand. He added it will be "run independently in as far as the customer-facing part is concerned." The Q400s and E190s are ideally suited to the demands of FIFO operations, which often require services to remote airstrips with various types of runway surfaces. Lim said NJE's fleet of Dash 8s and E190s are "the best, most modern aircraft that fly-in, fly-out customers would need."

This is a reference to the Fokker 100s used by FIFO competitor Alliance Airlines, currently in the throes of acquisition by Qantas. In July, Lim said that "both aircraft types [Q400/E190] are fuel efficient, have enhanced operational reliability and low carbon emissions when compared with the predominantly 40-year-old Fokker 100s used by the other major FIFO operators."

"NJE will naturally be the partner of choice for resource companies all over Australia who have been crying out for so long for a FIFO provider that is able to address their triple priorities of minimal impact on the environment, comfort and safety of its staff and reliability of service."

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To meet investor scrutiny, the multinational companies that dominate Australia's resource sector are heavily invested in their ESG agendas. The younger, lighter footprint of NJE's fleet will be an appealing factor when future contracts are negotiated. In a statement on the Alliance takeover yesterday, Qantas had a different spin on the impact of the aging Fokkers. It said that "Alliance has approximately 70 older Fokker jet aircraft that were well suited to providing charter services. Full acquisition would enable Qantas and Alliance to combine their Fokker fleets, extending their economic life by an additional five years."

Qantas is facing plenty of challenges in convincing the ACCC that its take over of Alliance will not substantially lessen airline competition in the FIFO sector. The deal is not certain to succeed, particularly as the Qantas-Alliance entity will start with around a 70% share of the FIFO market. In late July, the ACCC informed Rex it had no issues with the NJE takeover and "does not intend to conduct a public review of the proposed acquisition." The last word goes to Lim, who said, "When there is no choice, you have no choice, but the moment you have choice, I suppose that would be quite obvious what they would do."

Qantas, and its CEO Alan Joyce, are renowned for aggressively going after what they want, so there's a bit more to play out in this battle for the FIFO market.

Journalist - A professional aviation journalist writing across the industry spectrum. Michael uses his MBA and corporate business experience to go behind the obvious in search of the real story. A strong network of senior aviation contacts mixed with a boyhood passion for airplanes helps him share engaging content with fellow devotees. Based in Melbourne, Australia.