MELBOURNE, Australia — PPG announced that it recently supplied Rex Airlines with various aerospace coatings for six Boeing 737-800 aircraft that will expand the airline into domestic service. The airline is expanding its fleet to include narrow-body aircraft servicing Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

For the aircraft's fuselage, tail and engine cowlings, Rex Airlines selected PPG DESOGEL™ EAP-9, which is a chromate-free conversion coating and adhesion promoter; PPG DESOPRIME™ CA7700BE epoxy primer; and PPG DESOTHANE™HD 9008 basecoat-clearcoat system. The wings and horizontal stabilizers were coated with PPG DESOTO^® 515X349 exterior primer, which is formulated to protect aluminum and composite substrates from corrosion; PPG PR-1432-GP corrosion-inhibitive elastomeric coating; and PPG Desothane HS CA8000 topcoat system.

"Rex Airlines applied PPG Desothane HD CA9008 basecoat-clearcoat system on our fleet of Saab 340 aircraft, which is the largest Saab fleet in the world," said Png Yeow Tat, Rex Airlines General Manager, Engineering. "This innovative technology provides excellent colour and gloss retention and outstanding appearance compared to a direct gloss system, leading the airline to use this system and other PPG products on our B737 aircraft."

Managed by parent company Regional Express, Rex Airlines is a long-standing PPG customer and the largest regional airline in Australia with more than 60 destinations. Despite being greatly impacted by the pandemic, the airline will commence domestic jet operations in March 2021, starting with services in the golden triangle of Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane.

"We are proud that Rex Airlines selected PPG's innovative paint systems for its expanded fleet of narrow-body aircraft," said Mark Ingram, PPG Account Manager, Aerospace, Australia. "With our local manufacturing capabilities in Australia, we have the unmatched ability to meet the needs of regional companies like Rex Airlines and Douglas Aerospace, who assisted with the aircraft painting."

"The robust application properties of PPG's aerospace coatings, especially the high-gloss, buffable basecoat-clearcoat system, made them the ideal products for the livery repaint," said Simon Clarke, Douglas Aerospace Production Manager. "We look forward to our ongoing collaboration with PPG and Rex Airlines." With more than 30 years of aircraft painting expertise, Douglas Aerospace is a family-owned and -operated aircraft paint service company headquartered in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.

For more information, visit www.ppgaerospace.com.