A caricature of Kay Hull on the fuselage of the VH-REX plane greeted passengers as they boarded the flight and departed Sydney yesterday afternoon during the official launch of Rex's latest route.

While serving as the Member for Riverina, Mrs Hull witnessed the collapse of airline group Ansett Australia and its subsidiary airlines, Hazelton and Kendell, in 2001.

She advocated tirelessly to save the subsidiary airlines and in 2002 Hazelton and Kendell were merged, forming what is now Australia's largest regional airline, Regional Express.

"You don't know until you lose all your airlines, like when Ansett went down, how much you take things for granted," Mrs Hull said.

"Regional and remote Australia would sincerely not have the services that they get now [without Rex] - they get many of the health services delivered to them, and they get a lot of tourism and opportunities.

"That's only because they have a reliable regional airline."

In 2010, Rex declared Mrs Hull an airline ambassador and named a conference room after her at the Australian Airline Pilot Academy based at Wagga Airport.

VH-REX is not the first aircraft to adorn her caricature, however, she is extremely proud that her legacy continues to be honoured by the airline.

"We share that same passion, the passion to deliver benefits to regional and remote Australia," she said. "Rex is the typical deliverer of all of those benefits."

Rex continues to cement itself in the domestic flight market, with fares between Sydney and Brisbane starting at $59.

Having launched seven new routes since March, Rex's latest service connects Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, Australia's busiest aviation route.

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