Regional Express (Rex) has denied media reports claiming the airline has a poor safety culture.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Monday, Rex said the baseless allegations were made by a “disgruntled engineer” regarding matters that have been put before both the Fair Work Commission and Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
Further, it said a representative of CASA had written to the airline as recently as May 22 2019 confirming Rex was “currently meeting all its obligations” and there were “no current safety concerns”.
“We believe that our safety culture, as part of the safety management system, is second to none,” Rex chief operating officer Neville Howell said in the statement.
“Rex will not be making any further comments on this matter and we will leave it to the safety authority to judge if our safety culture is lacking in any manner.”
Howell said Rex had “already invited senior management of CASA on 18 June 2019 to have a full briefing on the matter, as well as to discuss the issues around the disgruntled engineer.
The company placed its shares in a brief trading halt on prior to issuing its statement.
On a day the broader market rose half a per cent, Rex was down up to 15.5 per cent during Monday’s trading session before recovering through the afternoon to finish down six per cent at $1.33.
Media reports said the engineer and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) union had claimed in a report sent to CASA that Rex management had discouraged its staff from reporting safety defects.
A CASA spokesperson told The New Daily the regulator was investigating the claims.
“We have information from the union and Rex,” the spokesman said.
“We are now working through that carefully and thoroughly. There is no time frame at this stage. We will take appropriate action if required.”
