About 10,000 seats have already been sold for future flights, which chief executive Tim Jordan said showed the demand for regional tourism.

Bonza (and its legends, rather than staff or crew) is the first new airline since Tiger began 15 years ago. Bonza, however, would concentrate on regional routes and its ticket sales were conducted only through an app.

Jordan said the first flight was a game changer for tourism with discounted fares to places not regarded as commercially viable for the other airlines. It would also mean the end of what was often a long car trip.

He said the airline’s debut was occurring when there was high demand for domestic tourism and would stimulate demand.

“What our customers will experience on-board is a fresh approach to flying where we keep the bar high on quality and our costs low,” he said.

Sunshine Coast Airport chief executive Andrew Brodie said Bonza would add a further 772,000 seats into the region and generate about $86 million in visitor expenditure.

Bonza’s initial strategy was to fly 27 routes to 17 destinations. Among the destinations were Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, the Whitsundays, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Avalon and Mildura.

However, it has indicated there would be future flights to Melbourne.

The start of commercial flights came as Tourism and Events Queensland kicked off a six-month, $5 million campaign to entice tourists to give Queensland another go.

The State Government was expected to announce today the first music trails and headline performers which was expected to benefit regional tourism.