The deadline to submit bids to acquire insolvent Australian airline Rex - Regional Express (ZL, Wagga Wagga) has passed, and according to the Australian Financial Review newspaper, distressed debt investor Anchorage Capital Advisors is among the entities that has submitted a bid.

Rex - Regional Express filed for voluntary administration in July 2024 after unsuccessfully taking on Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) and Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) on mainline Australian domestic routes rather than sticking to its normally profitable niche of scheduled regional flying.

The administration period was originally due to last less than three months, but it remains unfinished business almost one year later. However, the administrators have a June 30 Federal Court-imposed deadline to find a buyer, and to get an extension they will need to persuade the court that they are well on track to do so.

Among its other aviation-related business adventures, Anchorage was the underbidder when Indigo Partners acquired Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver International) earlier last decade.

The newspaper also reports that another potential bidder is Western Australia-based HMC Group, which operates Nexus Airlines (GD, Kununurra). Late last year, Nexus Managing Director Michael McConachy told ch-aviation that he was open to growing his Western Australia-focused network but operating elsewhere in Australia was not a major focus.

Another proposal run past the administrators would see Rex's secured and unsecured creditors participate in a debt-for-equity swap and the company returning to the Australian Stock Exchange. The Australian government would have a circa 10% stake in the airline after repaying an AUD150 million Australian dollar (USD98 million) debt to a major Rex lender.

While its mainline B737-800 operations ended when the administrators were called in, government support has ensured Rex continues to operate its scheduled regional propeller services to regional and remote airports.

Regardless of whether the administrators find a buyer, it would be politically untenable for the government to allow Rex's regional flying to end and, as a last resort, the government has said it will step in and nationalise the airline to avoid this.