Australian regional carrier Rex announced it lost A$46 million on revenue of A$319 million for FY22. Rex Executive Chairman Lim Kim Hai “the lingering impact of COVID-19 meant that passenger services did not start to recover until February 2022. Prior to that, both the domestic jet operations and regional Saab operations were either suspended or greatly reduced.
“Considering that COVID devastated practically three-questers of the FY and the way in Ukraine starting in February (caused” crude oil prices to skyrocket by over 70 percent during the financial year peaking at a record high of A$174 per barrel in June 2022 as well as other supply shocks on the international economy, I am mildly pleased that our performance is not much worse than it is,” Lim said.
“The operational statistics for the new financial year have been very encouraging and indicate that we have turned the corner. In July, the domestic jet operations load factor was at an all-time high of 86 percent while the regional Saab operations saw higher passenger numbers, revenue and load factors compared to pre-COVID figures despite 5 percent less flying.”
Lim said “these pleasing outcomes are the result of partnerships with corporates and travel agencies that were entered into at the end of the prior FY. We have already seen 35 percent of the committed monthly amounts for the partnerships in the first two months and we have every reason to believe the performance will get stronger in the coming months. I note also that fuel prices have retreated to A$130 per barrel in the most recent week. We are continuing to see very strong bookings in August with the past week showing a 50 percent increase over the same period in July…barring further external shocks, I am confident that the group will return to good profitability in FY23.”