REX to relaunch National Jet Express

In October 2022, Scramble reported that REX Airlines acquired National Jet Express from Cobham Aviation Services and was planning to rebrand it into REX. On 4 January 2023, however, the airline announced it will relaunch the National Jet Express-livery, building on the brand reputation that NJE already held.

National Jet was founded in 1989 and started flying in 1990. It had two operating entities, National Jet Systems and National Jet Express, with the latter being the charter-operator. It mainly operated for Australian Airlines, which was also a majority shareholder. When Qantas acquired Australian Airlines, the National Jet Systems-flights were operated under the QantasLink-brand.

National Jet was owned by Cobham Limited and in 2009 the airline started operating the National Jet Express-flights under the Cobham-brand. In 2020, National Jet Systems was sold-off to the Qantas Group and continues to operate twenty B717-200s for Qantas.

Now, REX is bringing back the National Jet Express-brand. Its fleet of eight DHC-8-400s and six ERJ190s will be gradually rebranded in the coming year. The company also has four BAe146-300s but these are planned for retirement.

Illustration by National Jet Express.