Rex Regional Express

Anyone traveling in Australia away from the big cities ends up at Rex sooner or later. Regional Express connects capital cities with places in the outback, in Tasmania and on the coast – and does so almost exclusively with an aircraft type that has largely disappeared from scheduled service in Europe: the Saab 340. Add an eventful recent history with a short jet division, an insolvency and a new owner from the USA. This page shows you how to classify and recognize Rex and where best to get the airline in front of your lens.

Rex at a glance

Rex Regional Express is an Australian regional airline based in Mascot, the Sydney suburb where the airport is also located. The airline describes itself as Australia’s largest independent regional airline and serves around 50 destinations. Its main competitor in regional turboprop service is QantasLink.

The business model is clearly defined: Rex connects the state capitals with smaller places that are too small or too sparsely populated for big jets. Many routes are short, and many airports have only one runway and a small terminal. Some of the connections are supported by the states because they are an important link for remote communities.

Rex belongs to no alliance. Unlike Qantas or Virgin Australia, the airline also has no classic hub with connecting traffic. Instead it distributes its fleet across several bases, from which the aircraft fly out into the region in a star pattern.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code ZL: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board and on the ticket.
• ICAO code RXA: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign REX: This is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The IATA code ZL has nothing to do with the name; it is a pure airline identifier – how such codes are assigned is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes. Handy, by contrast, is that callsign and brand name are identical: If you hear “Rex” with a number on the radio, you know right away who is coming. You can find more on such radio names under airline callsigns and their history. Why flight number and callsign often look different is explained in the article on the difference between callsign and flight number.

History: from Hazelton and Kendell to Rex

Rex is a child of Australia’s biggest airline collapse. When Ansett Australia collapsed in September 2001, it also dragged down its regional partners and subsidiaries. A consortium of former Ansett employees, Australiawide Airlines, then bought two regional airlines: Hazelton Airlines and Kendell Airlines. Both were merged, and from August 2002 the new company flew as Regional Express.

The further milestones in brief:

Year	Event
2002	Merger of Hazelton and Kendell, flight operations as Rex from August
2005	Australiawide becomes Regional Express Holdings, partial IPO on the ASX, takeover of Air Link from Dubbo
2007	Network expansion in Queensland
2016	Routes in Western Australia and flights to the Snowy Mountains
2020	Heavy cuts in the COVID pandemic, leasing of Boeing 737-800s
2021	First scheduled jet flight on March 1 between Melbourne and Sydney
2024	Voluntary administration from the end of July, end of the jet division
2025	Sale to the US group Air T, end of administration in December

From the Kendell takeover Rex initially also brought along some Fairchild Metro 23s, which flew until 2006. If you are interested in these small, narrow turboprops, you will find more on the page about the Fairchild Swearingen Metro.

The jet division: Boeing 737-800 from 2021 to 2024

The most exciting and at the same time most consequential chapter of Rex’s history began in 2020. In the middle of the pandemic, when Virgin Australia itself went into administration, Rex secured six Boeing 737-800s that had previously flown for Virgin. On March 1, 2021, the first scheduled jet flight took off between Melbourne and Sydney.

After that the jet division grew step by step. Rex connected big cities, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and the Gold Coast, competing directly with Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia. More aircraft gradually joined, and at times around ten 737-800s were part of the fleet.

Economically the sums did not add up. At the end of July 2024 Rex requested a trading halt on the stock exchange, stopped selling jet flights and cut the capital-city connections. EY was appointed administrator. The 737s were parked on the ground, while the regional service with the Saab continued.

Insolvency and restart under Air T

Important for understanding: The group went into administration, but the regional operation kept running. The Australian federal government supported the Saab service because many places would otherwise have been left without scheduled service. During the administration the government provided money several times and in January 2025 bought up debts of Rex held by a lender.

In October 2025 the US group Air T signed the agreement to take over Regional Express Holdings. Completion followed in mid-December 2025, ending the administration. Rex itself now describes Regional Express Holdings as a wholly owned subsidiary of Air T. Other parts of the former group were disposed of during the administration, including the cargo and special-mission subsidiary Pel-Air, which went to Toll in October 2024.

For you as a spotter this means: Rex is a pure turboprop airline again – exactly what it was until 2020.

The fleet: the Saab 340 as backbone

The heart of Rex is the Saab 340. The twin-engine turboprop from the Swedish manufacturer Saab first flew in 1983 and was built until 1999, 459 in total. Rex operates the largest fleet of them in the world – just under 60 aircraft according to common reference works. Exact numbers fluctuate because individual aircraft are in maintenance or serve as spare-parts donors.

Type / variant	Features	Spotter note
Saab 340B	Second generation, more powerful GE CT7-9B engines, wider horizontal stabilizer	Common at Rex
Saab 340B Plus	Third generation, extended wingtips as standard, active noise and vibration damping	Hard to tell from the 340B from the outside, the registration database helps
Boeing 737-800	Former jet division, 2020/21 to 2024	Historic, no longer at Rex
Fairchild Metro 23	From the Kendell takeover, until 2006	Historic

The Saab 340 usually has around 34 seats. For a country with such great distances that sounds small, but it fits Rex’s routes exactly: Many places have only a few dozen passengers per flight, and the Saab also copes well with short runways.

Saab 340 or Dash 8? How to tell them apart

In Australia Rex shares the regional turboprop market mainly with QantasLink, which uses the Dash 8-400. From a distance both look like “propeller planes” – in detail they are easy to tell apart.

The low wing is the quickest feature and works even on approach from a long distance. You will find more on telling regional turboprops apart in the guide telling turboprops apart.

How to recognize Rex

You recognize Rex first and foremost through the combination of type and lettering: a Saab 340 with “Rex” on the fuselage and the airline’s logo on the tail. Because hardly any other Australian scheduled airline uses the Saab 340 in larger numbers, the type alone is already a strong hint.

The second feature is the registration. Australian aircraft carry the prefix VH-, and at Rex you often come across registrations such as VH-ZL…, VH-ZR…, VH-RX… or VH-OL…. Many aircraft have a long history with other operators behind them before they came to Rex. How to read and classify registrations is explained in the article understanding aircraft registrations; if you want to collect the Saabs individually, you will find inspiration under collecting registrations.

Spotting Rex: capital cities and regional airports

At the big airports you see Rex regularly, but amid a lot of other traffic. At Sydney Airport, for example, the Saabs land alongside long-haul jets of Qantas and international airlines – a nice contrast for a photo. Which spots are suitable there is shown in the guide to plane spotting in Sydney; a classic is Shep’s Mound. Rex has further bases in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Cairns and Townsville, among others.

The real Rex feeling, though, you get at the small places. In New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Orange and Albury are Rex bases, and there are many places in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. There Rex is often the most important or only provider in scheduled service. That means little traffic but relaxed conditions: You can watch arrival, handling and departure in peace. You will find tips for such places in the article spotting at small regional airports.

For good pictures of the Saab 340, pay attention to exposure: With too short a shutter speed the propellers stand still and the photo looks lifeless. How to make the propellers visibly spin without camera shake is explained in the article photographing propellers.

Common mix-ups

• Taking every turboprop for Rex – QantasLink flies the Dash 8, other operators the ATR or smaller types. The low wing shows the Saab.
• Equating Rex with QantasLink – QantasLink belongs to the Qantas Group, Rex is independent.
• Thinking a 737 in Rex colors is current – since July 2024 Rex no longer flies jets in scheduled service.
• Reading ZL as an abbreviation of the name – the IATA code is a pure identifier, the ICAO code RXA is closer to the name.
• Confusing Rex with Alliance Airlines – Alliance Airlines mainly uses jets for charter and wet-lease operations, Rex flies turboprop scheduled service.
• Wanting to tell the Saab 340B and 340B Plus apart by the wing – extended wingtips were also optionally available on early 340Bs; the surest way to determine the exact variant is via the registration.

Conclusion

Rex Regional Express is an airline with a clear profile and an eventful history. Born from the remains of the Ansett collapse, it became the world’s largest operator of the Saab 340, dared the leap into capital-city traffic with the Boeing 737-800 and had to pay for that step in 2024 with administration. Today, under the Air T umbrella, Rex again flies what it does best: turboprop service into the regions. For spotters it is thus one of the last big opportunities to experience the Saab 340 in daily scheduled service.