Rex records $8.6m profit

The regional air carrier servicing Albany has carried about 54,000 passengers in its first full year of operation.

Regional Express (Rex) group announced an $8.6 million profit for the first half of its current financial year in a statement released on Tuesday.

Rex operates 23 weekly return flights on the Albany route, which equates to about 2300 flights and 54,000 passengers for their first full year of operations to the end of February 2017.

The Australia-wide regional carrier announced the $8.6 million statutory before-tax profit on a turnover of $144.3 million, compared to the statutory loss $13.2 million for the first half of the 2015-16 financial year.

Its operational profit after tax of $6.2 million represents an 88 per cent improvement over last financial year’s operational after-tax profit of $3.3 million.

Rex chief operating officer Neville Howell said the company was pleased to buck the national trend of falling profits in Australian aviation.

He said he saw indications of the bottoming of the decline in regional travel in the first half of the financial year and the company was well positioned to take advantage of any recovery in the regional economy.

“If this trend continues in the second half, then this would strongly suggest the beginning of a recovery trend,” he said. “We are confident of turning in very strong results when the rebound happens.”