Following the September announcement that the airline would undertake a two-year trial with financial assistance from the Territory government, the sleek Embraer E120 Brasilia descended towards the tarmac for the first time on schedule at about 8.15am.

Transport Minister Peter Chandler was on the maiden flight with more than 20 other passengers and told the Katherine Times he was was “thrilled” to see the tri-weekly service get wings.

“There were more on it than I expected,” he said.

“It was near capacity from Darwin to Katherine.

“For a first flight, that’s pretty bloody good.”

With many doubting the trial – which is being subsidised to the tune of $700,000 per annum – would ever get off the ground, Mr Chandler praised the stakeholders involved with transforming the plan into a reality within a short period of time.

“One of the frustrations of government is that you often consider a good idea and it can take a very drawn out period to go from an idea to have something eventuate,” he explained.

“We worked as quickly as we could and there’s a lot of hard work gone into it, and there’s a a lot of people that should be congratulated.”

To celebrate the launch of the trial, community events were held in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs to welcome the aircraft.

Tourism in regional centres like Katherine is being touted as the big winner from the trial and Mr Chandler said that, after experiencing the service firsthand, he could envisage the scheduling allowing visitors docking on cruise ships in Darwin to experience the region.

“I think Katherine gets the best deal out of this,” he said.

“A cruise ship could possibly come in in the morning, be on that plane, check out Katherine and things like Nitmiluk National Park, and be back in Darwin on the last plane and back on the ship that night.”