Former Rex employee reveals he's holding out hope for the airline 05:21

All right, so if you booked on Rex from that time period, on the 30th of July, and you'll get your money back if Rex goes under and they can't guarantee those routes, or you will get on a plane. So effectively, the government is saying during the administration period, Rex will continue to fly because it will be underwritten, those tickets. Now, when it comes to the staff themselves...

I've been talking quite openly about this for the last few days. And I am concerned that the entitlements guarantee, which is a federal scheme, has not been triggered yet because...

One of the arms of Rex has not been put into liquidation. Now, the administrator must put one of the arms legally of Rex into liquidation for the entitlements guarantee to be triggered. That is a Commonwealth scheme which pays redundant staff out their sick leave, annual leave and long service leave. Not sick leave, but annual leave and long service leave. What they're entitled to, right? Now, as it stands right now, 600 Rex staff have been sacked.

And none of them received any of their severances. Now, I've got Dennis on the line. I've been speaking to Dennis over the last few days. His name's not really Dennis. We've kept him anonymous because he is a former employee of Rex Airlines. He spent years and years and years working for Rex. Hard worker, loved his job, and was only made redundant a couple of weeks ago. Dennis is on the line. G'day. How are you doing? Dennis, I'm all right. How are you feeling at the moment?

Disappointed is mainly the first word. It's a bit bittersweet because obviously there's a lot of staff remaining there and I have highest regard for these remaining staff, being the pilots. Flight attendants and ground crew, it is a very close-knit community as a company, one of the best companies I've worked for and I've worked for other airlines as well. So in

Initially, I hoped that the regional operator survives because we can't have a monopoly in that market. And I'd hate to see that happen with one of the biggest airlines we know. And we had such a fresh image. And when we had the jets, it was such a good image we had. And we had great comments from passengers, people we knew that flew them. We only had great comments about wrecks. Hmm.

For you and the 600-odd staff, you've been talking to a few of your former colleagues. You said to me off-air, there's some people doing it really, really hard mentally at the moment. Do you want to elaborate on that? Well, personal details are subjectional to each individual person, regardless if they're on a high wage, low wage. Some people are doing it well. Some people are living week to week. And I feel emotionally for those people how...

They don't know what's happening from one day to another as far as any payments. There's no other jobs immediately being thrown at them. There are positions available out there, but it's still the ordeal of going through interviews, being out of your comfort zone, I guess, and then being put into such a situation, which happens in society. We know that. Hey, Dennis, how much are you owed, roughly?

I really couldn't tell you. I really don't know. I mean, I've had estimates, but it's all conjecture and speculation, which I don't want to do. But, I mean, given the years of service I've been there, I mean, it wouldn't be a lot of money, but it'd probably be like a thank you, I guess. It'd be tens of thousands, right? I would say so. It wouldn't be much more than that. But, I mean, I know people that have been there for longer than I have been there. Are you worried you're not going to get your hands on it?

I trust I will because of what's been said by the government. But, you know, I like to be positive and hopefully that it's guaranteed in the long run. I don't know when it's going to happen. Sure. But I'd like to think it will, as many of my colleagues would as well. Hey, Dennis, before I let you go, what would you say to Neville Howe, the CEO and the chairman, John Sharp and...

Kim High, too, the Singaporean bloke, who effectively, all of them, all management, the entire board, they've run this thing into the ground. Yeah, see, I've got to keep my comments guarded because I don't know how... We weren't ever told what was happening on that side of things. Look, I hope for the staff, the staff, the general staff of Rex, that they do do well. But my feelings towards the board are probably...

I'll keep that to myself. But I want to see the staff that remain at Rex continue to prosper. And I believe that it's the staff of Rex are what make Rex what it is. Mm-hmm.

Dennis, I really appreciate you coming on the line. I've got to keep moving, but mate, all the best. It's a really difficult period for you and all your former colleagues and everybody who worked at Rex, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people left without work. And hopefully we can get a resolution soon. Thanks so much for coming on. All the best, Chris. Thanks for your time. Bye-bye. That's Dennis.