Mildura to BNE through MCY via Connexion without transferring at SYD or MEL
Or Mildura to BNE via MEL without having to sit in a minibus for an hour (or 2+ if it's a Sunday arvo on the Bruce HWY)
Sub $100 fares will fill seats and you can take that to the bank
But it still won't pay the bills.
Mildura to a bunch of destinations further north 1 stop, not just Sunny Coast
There's only 32k people in Mildura. How many do you think need to fly to anywhere in QLD regularly?
Pelican was an expensive option to MCY from NTL plus 2 hours in a small prop
And they didn't reduce fares to less than cost to fill the aircraft they had, or buy larger ones and hope.