The service, operating five days per week from 28 June, will use Rex’s 737-800 fleet, adding around 90,000 seats to the city pair per year. It will be Rex’s eleventh domestic jet route, with other destinations including Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and the Gold Coast.

VH-RSB hit the ground and caught fire after flying into a power line near Merriton on 8 October, killing both the pilot and the single passenger on board and injuring rescuers. In its final report, the ATSB said the power line was in the way of aircraft landing on the property’s grass runway.

The project, to be carried out by principal contractor BESIX Watpac, will modernise the tower’s infrastructure, with Airservices estimating it will add an extra two decades to the structure’s lifespan. Construction will continue in stages through next year.

The deal will give Skyportz subsidiary Wilbur Air, which will use the Skyportz vertiport network, access to small cargo helicopters that will fly freight between businesses on fixed routes with flight plans rather than autonomously selecting their own routes.