Jetstar will offer direct seasonal service between Darwin and the Gold Coast in late June, after receiving an undisclosed amount of taxpayer cash to operate the service.

Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, with one-way fares starting at $109 for flights between June 26 and the end of October. The company said the new service will add more than 25,000 seats a year, “providing an affordable connection between the two holiday spots and boosting tourism”, according to government and airline media manager, the NT News.

The taxpayer subsidy for the flights was not initially reported by the newspaper, which is working in partnership with the NT CLP Government to promote something called an “aviation roundtable” in Darwin this week.

After a series of stories about new flights, including the Alice Springs to Cairns route and other increased capacity routes, written by former CLP and Queensland Labor media adviser Gary Shipway, the newspaper briefly mentioned on Wednesday that the flights were being subsidised through the NT Government’s Territory Aviation Attraction Scheme, which had $20 million pumped into it by the previous Labor government.

A request by the NT Independent to release the costs to taxpayers of the flights was blocked by the Finocchiaro Government a day earlier, with the Department of Trade, Business and Asian Relations citing “commercial in confidence” reasons.

Failed airline Bonza, that was offering Darwin to Gold Coast routes among others last year, was also a recipient of the fund, although the total it was paid before folding was also never disclosed.

Meanwhile, state media also reported that Qantas and Jetstar were significantly enhancing their flight capacity to and from Darwin by adding over 95,000 new seats this year for various routes, including to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra.

“The Qantas Group’s total capacity in Darwin will grow by 11 per cent compared to the same time last year as we count down to the launch of Qantas’ new Darwin to Singapore service next month,” Jetstar Group CEO Stephanie Tully was quoted as saying by state media.

“We’re always looking for ways to help Territorians take off more for less, with fares from just $79 last year. Our additional capacity will see Jetstar offer daily flights between Adelaide and Darwin, providing close to 3000 low-cost seats a week on the route.”

It was also reported that Qantas has partnered with Tourism NT to kick off their new tourism initiative, ‘She’s Alice,’ to promote the holiday experiences available in Alice Springs and its surrounding areas. The costs of that have also not been disclosed, but was welcomed by struggling tourism businesses in Central Australia.

The new capacity increases for flights from Darwin include to Adelaide, from 10 to 14 Qantas flights per week in April-May; Jetstar, from 4 to 7 per week from July to October – totalling three daily flights during peak periods; Darwin to Brisbane, from 9 to 10 flights in May and 13 in June; Darwin to Sydney, from 11 to 12 flights weekly in April-May with double daily flights from June to October – equating to three daily flights during the July school holidays; and Darwin to Canberra, where Qantas will reinstate a three-per-week seasonal service from July to September.

There is a long history of NT Governments of different political stripes unsuccessfully paying airlines to service Darwin.

Airnorth was given $700,000 to run the old Darwin-Alice Springs “milk run” in 2015 by the then-CLP government, and the Henderson Labor government gave Jetstar $3 million to establish an “international hub” in Darwin in 2009, along with another $2 million for marketing purposes.

The airlines ceased the services when the money ran out.

“Given the chequered history of NT Government subsidies to airlines, it should be obvious why there is a strong public interest in knowing how much taxpayer’s money is being paid and what guarantees there are that Territorians will get value for money,” former CDU law lecturer and former Labor MLA Ken Parish told the ABC in 2018.

“They can redact any commercial in confidence bits. We need and are entitled to information about how much of our money the NT Government is giving to [airlines] as an inducement to fly here.”