Cairns Airport

CNS · 6 monitored domestic routes · data from Jan 1985

Airport traffic: to Apr 2026

Cairns handled 379,335 passenger movements in Apr 2026, the 7th busiest of the 22 monitored airports. Traffic is still 13% below its 2019 average. Across its 3 monitored routes, 0.6% of flights were cancelled — well below the national average.

A passenger movement is not the same as a passenger. Every domestic passenger is counted twice — once departing, once arriving — while an international passenger is counted once. That is the official definition, and it is why these totals cannot be added to the route figures elsewhere on this site.

Passenger movements, 1985 to 2026

To Apr 2026 · Marks show industry events

Aircraft movements

To Apr 2026

Busiest routes from Cairns

Route passengers are a different measure from airport movements above — one trip, not two.

Punctuality on Cairns routes

Across all 3 monitored routes touching this airport, 0.6% of scheduled flights were cancelled over the 12 months to Jul 2026 — against a national average of 2.1%.

Punctuality: 12 months to Jul 2026

Cairns in numbers