The Telegraph reported on August 6 that the financially troubled Qantas airline Rex entered escrow proceedings on July 30 and currently owes 4,450 creditors, including more than 1,000 employees.
Before the first creditors' meeting on Friday, the federal court held a brief hearing.
Daniel Krochmalik, the administrator of EY, said at the meeting that the number of creditors could increase further as the escrow process progresses.
Rex's creditors include not only airports, government and the Australian Taxation Office, but also major investor PAG Capital, which has been funding its regional operations, the report said. In addition, as many as 185,000 passengers could also become creditors as the airline's Boeing 737 fleet is now grounded, hundreds of flights have been cancelled.
At the end of June, Rex launched a new Melbourne-Perth route, but it is understood that the airline was already in discussions with EY about financial issues at the time.
Although Virgin Atlantic Australia has reached an agreement with Rex to provide free flight services to affected customers, Krochmalik said it was unclear how many people had accepted the offer. As of Tuesday, 42,000 Rex customers had rebooked their flights, according to Virgin.
Jayne Hrdlicka, CEO of Virgin (Credit: The Telegraph)
The hearing did not reveal the exact amount of Rex Airlines' debt, but it is believed to be significant and worse than initially estimated. In addition to ordering the meeting of creditors to be held virtually on Friday, Judge David Yates also ordered that the "extraordinary general meeting" requested by former executive chairman Lim Kim Hai be postponed until the escrow proceedings were resolved.
Just two weeks before the appointment of the manager, Lim had sought to meet with shareholders to vote on a number of resolutions, including the removal of four directors.
John Sharp、Jim David、Ron Bartsch和Lee Thian Soo则出于对公 司治理的担忧，投票罢免Lim执行主席的职务。
As the escrow is likely to result in the sale or liquidation of Rex Airlines, Lim may never have the opportunity to carry out his revenge plan again.
Lim Kim Hai (Picture: The Telegraph)
Founded in 2002 as Regional Express, Rex operates flights to rural and remote areas using 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft. while
When Virgin Atlantic entered the hosting process during the pandemic, Rex decided to operate the Big City route with Boeing 737-800 aircraft, including several aircraft previously leased by Virgin.
Today, Virgin is recovering at least three 737-800 aircraft to replenish its fleet affected by stalled production of Boeing's new Max 8 model.
Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has made it clear that it will not take over Rex's regional operations, saying his company will stick to its business and maintain a single-aircraft fleet.