“NJE’s fleet expansion underscores our commitment to servicing the ever-growing demand of the resource sectors for a reliable carrier with modern and fuel-efficient aircraft,” said NJE’s interim chief operating officer, Robin Furber.

“The Embraer E190 aircraft is extremely popular with our customers as it provides their staff with a quiet and comfortable cabin featuring wide seats, excellent legroom, a 2-2 abreast cabin (no middle seat) and large overhead lockers.

“For too long the resource sectors have had to make do with unreliable, 30-year-old aircraft that are environmentally unfriendly for their fly-in/fly-out needs. This explains why NJE is now the first port of call whenever the resource sectors have new requirements for a premium operator that meets their ESG responsibilities.”

NJE will fly regular E190 services from Perth to the new West Musgrave Airport, located in outback WA near the borders with South Australia and the Northern Territory, its third new destination in the past month following Gladstone and Gruyere.

Rex has also been leveraging NJE to take on Alliance in Queensland, with a major contract announced in May last year to provide services to BHP Mitsubishi Alliance in the Sunshine State. The first flights under the new contract took off in July.

The airline purchased NJE in 2022 for $48 million after the Flying Kangaroo announced a bid for the rival FIFO operator; that deal, though, was in April nixed by the ACCC, and both Qantas and Alliance walked away from it last month in one of the first major decisions for new CEO Vanessa Hudson.

Rex in September also announced plans to use NJE planes to alleviate delays in its own WA regional services.