REX (Regional Express) is Australia’s largest regional airline outside the Qantas group of companies and serves some 60 destinations in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia. It is the world’s largest operator of the Saab SF340 turboprop aircraft, which features a single class configuration with extra-legroom seats available for a fee. Despite the Covid pandemic, which forced it to severely reduce frequencies across the network, in June 2020 REX said itself interested in expanding into the domestic airline market, should the funding be secured, and announced that they and ATR had entered into a memorandum of understanding to explore options for replacing the SAAB 340 fleet with ATR 42 and ATR 72 aircraft. On 30 September 2020, REX announced they had signed letters of intent with two separate lease companies for a total of 6 Boeing 737-800s to be delivered from 1 November 2020. In the same announcement, REX signalled their intent for an additional 4 Boeing 737-800s by the end of 2021 for a total of 10. The first jet operations are planned to begin on 1 March 2021 on the Sydney-Melbourne route (Photo Wikimedia Commons / Bidgee)