Rex has announced it will commence flights from Melbourne and Sydney to Brisbane as it this week restarts Boeing 737 flights for the first time since July.
Rex will fly twice-daily between Melbourne and Brisbane from 17 December 2021 using Boeing 737-800s. Fares are currently on sale from $79 one-way. These prices are available on bookings made until 30 November 2021, for travel until 30 April 2022 – including over the Christmas and Easter school holidays.
Rex’s regular airfares on the Melbourne-Brisbane route appear to start from $119 one-way, with Rex Business Class available from $299 one-way.
Rex will also launch flights between Sydney and Brisbane from 20 December 2021, operating 2-3x daily. Fares on this route are currently on sale from $69 one-way in Economy, and from $299 one-way in Business.
“All of our launch flights to new destinations have proved to be enormously popular and I have no doubt Brisbane will be the same, particularly with such affordable fares,” Rex Deputy Chairman John Sharp said.
“Rex is a full service airline so these fares represent incredible value. Unlike our competitors, Rex passengers don’t get slugged with hidden or extra costs as all fares on our domestic jet network include free 23kg checked baggage and refreshments on board.”
Rex has been planning to operate Boeing 737s on the “golden triangle routes” connecting Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane ever since announcing plans to start jet services between Australia’s capital cities in May 2020. But the launch of jet services to Brisbane has been delayed until now, with Rex instead commencing flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Gold Coast Airport earlier this year after doing a deal with that airport.
Currently, Rex’s only flights from Brisbane Airport are to outback Queensland on “milk run” routes operated in partnership with the Queensland government.
Virgin matches Rex’s airfares
On the day that Rex announced its new Brisbane-Melbourne flights this morning, Virgin Australia quickly lowered some of its fares on the same route. Virgin is now selling $79 Economy Choice fares and $299 Business seats between Melbourne and Brisbane on many dates. Virgin also quickly matched Rex’s $69 Sydney-Brisbane airfares.
Virgin’s Economy Choice fares include 23kg checked baggage, complimentary seat selection, in-flight entertainment and Velocity Frequent Flyer points & status credits. Rex charges extra for seat selection on its $79 airfares and does not yet have a frequent flyer program.
Rex restarts Boeing 737 services
The Melbourne-Brisbane route announcement comes as Rex today restarted Boeing 737 services from Melbourne to Sydney and Canberra, as well as Saab 340 flights from Sydney to Canberra, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour.
This is the first time Rex has operated passenger jet services for almost four months. Rex grounded its Boeing 737 fleet in mid-July 2021 due to lockdowns and travel restrictions affecting all of its routes. All flights were initially cancelled until August, but these cancellations were extended multiple times.
Rex recently installed wifi on four of its six Boeing 737 jets, with the remaining two aircraft to receive wifi connections over the coming months. In-flight wifi is free for Business Class passengers on Rex flights, and available at extra cost to Rex Economy Class passengers.
As a special promotion, Rex in-flight wifi is available to all passengers free of charge until the end of this month.
Rex has also added in-flight entertainment. Passengers can connect to a moving flight map and a selection of free TV shows & movies on their own electronic devices over the wifi network.
Qantas offers free wifi and in-flight entertainment on most of its Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 domestic flights. Wifi is not available on QantasLink aircraft, but in-flight streaming entertainment is being progressively made available on QantasLink’s Boeing 717, A320 and Fokker 100 jets.
Virgin Australia offers in-flight streaming entertainment on its Boeing 737s but has not switched in-flight wifi back on yet since the airline entered voluntary administration last year.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Rex to fly between Australian capital cities
This article was updated on 17 November 2021 when Rex announced new Sydney-Brisbane services.
