Long known as a regional airline flying nimble Saab turboprops, Rex has now joined the Boeing 737 jet set with an ambitious plan to challenge Qantas and Virgin Australia for a slice of key capital city markets.
That plan took flight on March 1 2021 with the debut of direct Rex Boeing 737 flights between Sydney and Melbourne. The airline has already announced that Adelaide and the Gold Coast will follow, while Brisbane and Canberra are also in the pipeline.
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That network comes courtesy of six Boeing 737s, which ironically used to be leased to Virgin, with the option to add four more by the end of 2021.
Rex sees its position as being a value-oriented airline — again, similar to Virgin Australia after its rescue and reboot by US owners Bain Capital — with affordable yet all-inclusive pricing.
For business class, this means appealing to the self-employed — people who run their own business and treat the company’s money as their own, because basically it is ;– as well as business travellers flying on ‘best fare of the day’ rules or working a project with tight budget constraints.
Also in the mix are the many leisure travellers who’d appreciate moving up to the pointy end of the plane for a little extra comfort.
With all that in mind, here’s how the Rex Boeing business class experience shakes out. This review is based on flights between Sydney and Melbourne (ZL33 and ZL152).
How much does Rex Boeing 737 business class cost?
What you pay for your ticket is an essential yardstick in determining the overall ‘value’ of a flight, especially on short routes such as Sydney-Melbourne, where you’ll spend around 90 minutes in the air.
As with any new entrant into a market, Rex rolled out eye-popping prices: Sydney-Melbourne business class launched at $299, with subsequent discounting across March to $199.
Looking at the back half of April 2021, after school holidays have ended, and Rex’s Sydney-Melbourne fares are still sitting at $299.
These rates are still being matched by Virgin Australia, while Qantas is north of $700.
As for the second wave of routes: at the time of writing (early March 2021) Rex’s Sydney-Gold Coast and Melbourne-Gold Coast business class fares were pegged at $299 and $349, respectively, with Melbourne-Adelaide business class also at $299.
The take-away: Rex’s low pricing has to be taken into account in setting your expectations of its overall business class experience.
If anything, they represent the most basic and perhaps even the original definition of what an airport lounge should be: a quiet behind-closed-doors space away from the main public terminal and departure gate where selected travellers have no trouble finding a comfortable chair and can enjoy a complimentary cuppa (for coffee, think Nespresso rather than barista) and a light snack, with WiFi also on tap.
Those closed doors swing open for not only business class passengers but members of the paid Rex Lounge program, Priority Pass cardholders and, outside of peak weekday hours, casual ‘walk-ups’ at $33 per visit.
Finally, Rex permits business class passengers a flat 32kg of checked luggage and allows at-airport standby to move to an earlier flight at no charge, if your meetings wrap up early — as long as you’re prepared to risk going to the airport in the hope of there being an empty seat on an earlier flight.
