Cairns Flights

The first entry point on your trip to Cairns will most likely be the airport. As Cairns is located in Tropical North Queensland, you must be ready for a couple day drive if you are not going to arrive via airplane.

Cairns International Airport has two terminals, one for domestic and one for international. The domestic terminal includes Qantas, Virgin Blue, and Jetstar. The international terminal services Qantas, Australian Airlines, JAL, Air Nuigini, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, and continental Micronesia.

One thing to watch out for is that since Qantas services both domestic and international itineraries, that you make sure you find out which one you are departing from, as you may be in the wrong place with all your baggage otherwise!

This is a monopoly. Only 1 airline flies this route.

The journey is about 5.5 hours and the airline used to be Australian Airlines.

Qantas has announced in that they have plans to phase out Australian Airlines in order to focus their resources on Jetstar and Jetstar Asia.

JETSTAR now flies between Singapore and Cairns directly.

Virgin Blue Air provides reliable, relatively cheap transportation around Australia. I got some great deals with Virgin, and I never had issues with cancellations, delays, or anything similar. Highly recommended!

If coming from overseas, more than likely you will fly into Cairns from another large city as Cairns does not have many international flights. My advise is to have a look at www.flightcentre.com.au to compare prices. Quantas can be expensive and the alternate airlines like Virgin Blue and JetStar often have good specials.

I flew via Quantas as it was the only airline available for a direct flight from Hamilton Island on the Whitsundays. The view of the reef as you come in for a landing is lovely and not to be missed!

Cairns is located in Far North Queensland and is a long away drive from any of the major cities, hence most people arrive by plane. The airport has been expanded recently and is now the 5th busiest airport in the country for international arrivals and the 6th busiest airport overall in Australia.

There are several domestic flights a day to Cairns from each of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with fewer from other centres such as Perth and Darwin. International flights arrive directly into Cairns from places like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea.

Once you arrive in Cairns, you can catch an airport shuttle bus into town, or up to one of the northern beaches (including Port Douglas). Many people hire a car from the airport, as you will really need one to explore this part of Queensland.

Arrival
The domestic terminal in Cairns is rather small and we had no problems getting our luggage. There is an ATM and Currency Exchange in the arrival hall and also desks of the main car rental companies.
For transportation to Cairns or your accommodation there are two possibilities:
- a shuttle bus, servicing the city centre and the hotels (AUD 8,- per person);
- taxi’s to your accommodation (the fare to the city is about AUD 15,-). We had to take a taxi, because our accommodation was quite outside the city centre and could pay with a credit card.

Departure
After check-in and customs the domestic terminal has a departure lounge, where passengers for all airlines have to wait till their plane is leaving. This lounge has several shops (for your last shopping), a news agent and some food outlets.

We were arriving in Cairns from New Zealand (part of our around the world trip) and had to change flights (and company) in Brisbane. Just a warning to be sure you don’t miss your connecting flight to Cairns (the same may happen if you enter Australia in another airport and have to change from international to a domestic flight).

In our case we were entering Australia in Brisbane, had to pick up our luggage and to pass customs (passport and luggage) and Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (to prevent the entry into Australia of exotic pests, diseases and weeds). Both checks were very time-consuming.
In Brisbane are two terminals, which are located on quite a large distance from each other. There is an ‘Airtrain Service’, but it is running just every 15 minutes. Because we were running out of time we had to take a taxi and could catch our plane just a couple of minutes before the check-in desk closed.

Be aware and be sure you have enough time between your flights. In Brisbane you need at least two hours !!!

To get to Cairns I flew with Virgin Blue airlines. They have very cheap and competitive flights. If you want anything to eat or drink on the flight you have to pay for it (and headphones if you want to listen to music - good music channels too, plus a great comedy station), but the prices are reasonable.

The best thing about flying with Virgin Blue was the staff, they were fun and friendly... especially when it was announced our co-pilot was 'Ben Dover' (aka bend over... get it?)