Rex has announced that its regional revenue and passenger numbers have returned to pre-COVID figures, as it eyes a return to profitability within this financial year.
In an ASX release on Tuesday, the carrier also stated that it has nearly doubled its revenue across its domestic capital city network since April, returning $13.6 million in revenue in July.
Further, the airline said its load factor, which measures the percentage of available seats filled by passengers, was 86 per cent in July across its network.
It comes after various reports in recent months stated that Rex has struggled to fill its newly-acquired Boeing 737 jets on its main city routes, after last year scaling up from a regional carrier to take on Qantas and Virgin.
Rex launched its first 737 flights between major cities in March 2021, and has since expanded its network to include flights between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, the Gold Coast and Canberra.
“I have every expectation that our numbers will continue to grow sharply over the next few months,” said Rex Executive Chairman Lim Kim Hai.
As such, Rex intends to take delivery of its seventh leased 737-800NG by the end of this month, with possibly another two jets to be delivered by the end of this year.
Together with its regional operations, Rex saw a total of $31.5 million in revenue in July, and has predicted that both its regional and domestic networks will be profitable by mid-2023.
The news comes as Rex celebrates its 20th anniversary, marking two decades since regional carriers Hazelton Airlines and Kendall Airlines merged to form Regional Express.