The service, to operate on Tuesdays and Sundays, is expected to bring more than 38,000 seats to the Alice Springs region.

“The Northern Territory Government’s Territory Aviation Attraction Scheme was critical in attracting Bonza to the NT,” said Bonza CEO Tim Jordan.

“Bonza has had more than 500,000 customers fly with us since we launched earlier this year, many of whom are first-time travellers, infrequent fliers and returning customers who are now able to connect directly to new and previously unserved or underserved destinations across our backyard because of our low-cost airfares.

“Adding Alice Springs to our map means we are taking another giant leap in our mission to make air travel accessible to the many, not the few. Territorians and Melburnians can discover all the contrasting wonders both cities have to offer as well as significantly boosting their respective tourism economies.”

Bonza announced its Darwin and Alice Springs services in September, with its first flight from the Sunshine Coast to Darwin touching down late at night on 29 November.

The low-cost carrier had planned to begin flights from its third base on the Gold Coast to Darwin on 1 December, but was forced to axe all its Gold Coast-Darwin flights for the month, along with several other routes from the new base, as it continues to wait for CASA approval for its wet-lease agreement with sister Canadian airline Flair.