Qantas regional general manager of Queensland Andrew Hogg said the standard cost of flights from Mount Isa to Brisbane and Townsville would remain the same.

He said the reason the route was so expensive was because it was a large distance and had lower passenger numbers on some days.

"It's a very long sector, which impacts on cost," he said.

"It's not a high volume route like ones in the city, so we can't discount the flights dramatically. If we had millions of people flying on the route, like we do between Brisbane and Sydney, perhaps we could justify it."

But he said more cheap flights would surface this year.

"Depending on seasonable demand, we try to offer discounts wherever we can," he said.

"Certainly we welcome competition in the market and discount our fares in reaction to that to remain competitive."

Mr Hogg also said passengers should brace themselves for a general increase in the cost of flying.

He said flights were currently as low as they had ever been but it wasn't going to last.

"If people see discounted fares they should jump on them, because with the recovery of the economy we will see the cost of flying increase dramatically."

In the past four years traffic on the Mount Isa to Brisbane route has increased significantly.

Yesterday, Mr Hogg said the airline would not rule out adding extra flights if there was demand for it.