The carrier’s remaining flight credits, which are worth around 10 per cent of the initial $1.2 billion in bookings, are due to expire on December 31 as Qantas’s were before the Flying Kangaroo scrapped the deadline at the end of August.

The twice-weekly route will operate on Tuesdays and Fridays starting from 5 December and will mark Mount Isa as the 19th destination on Bonza’s current route map. No other airline flies from Mount Isa to the Gold Coast, though Qantas, Virgin and Rex all have services to Brisbane.

The five-seater Beechcraft Baron 58, registered VH-WQE, was enabled by a $1.8 million grant from the Federal Government, and will bolster Little Wings’ capacity to support sick children.

The consumer watchdog said it believed the deal, which began in 2015, would now provide the airlines with the “opportunity and incentive to increase prices” as international aviation bounces back post-COVID-19.