Australian Flight Data

Brisbane to Queenstown

New Zealand · 228 months of data from Jul 1995 · Queenstown to Brisbane

Passengers
98,695
Brisbane to Queenstown, 12 months to May 2026
Both directions
190,675
including Queenstown to Brisbane
Flight time
3h 30m
20m shorter than the return
Load factor
82%
seats filled on this leg

Traffic: 12 months to May 2026

98,695 passengers flew Brisbane to Queenstown in the 12 months to May 2026, out of 190,675 on the route in both directions. Flights run about 82% full, much the same in both directions.

The route

Brisbane Queenstown

Distances are true from Brisbane; the ring marks the distance to Queenstown.

How long is the flight?

Scheduled flight time from Brisbane to Queenstown is 3h 30m gate to gate, over 2,400 km. Coming back takes 3h 50m — a difference of 20m, so this direction is the quicker one.

Scheduled block time — gate to gate, not time in the air — taken from the current timetable for this leg. Long-haul flights are often timetabled differently in each direction because of winds aloft, so the return is not always the same length. Check your own booking for the flight you are taking.

Flight numbers on this route

4 flight numbers currently scheduled from Brisbane to Queenstown. These are the numbers you book under.

Scheduled every day this week — 17 departures in all.

Qantas · 2 · Boeing 737-800, Airbus A320-200

QF185 · QF5855

Virgin Australia · 2 · Boeing 737, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-800 (winglets), Boeing 737 MAX 8

VA115 · VA119

Current timetable as at 2026-09-06

Timetables change, and these carry no punctuality figures of their own — no on-time data is published for international flights at all. The passenger and load factor figures above cover the route, not any single flight number.

Passengers, 1995 to 2026

011,88923,778 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
011,88923,778Delta lockdowns close the eastern states — Jul 2021 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 May 2021Apr 2024May 2026
011,88923,778Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 Delta lockdowns close the eastern states — Jul 2021 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 May 2016Jun 2021May 2026
011,88923,778Virgin Blue launches — Aug 2000 Ansett Australia collapses — Sep 2001 Volcanic ash cloud disrupts southern Australia — Jun 2011 Qantas grounds its entire fleet — Oct 2011 Skywest becomes Virgin Australia Regional Airlines — May 2013 Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 Delta lockdowns close the eastern states — Jul 2021 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 Jul 1995Feb 2015May 2026

To May 2026 · Marks show industry events

How full were the flights?

Inbound load factor, read as a floor rather than an exact figure. Some flights on this pair also carried passengers to and from other cities, and their seats cannot be split between those journeys. Dividing by every seat on every aircraft that touched the route gives the lowest the true figure can be, so actual occupancy is at or above the line. Seat data begins in 2009, so this series is shorter than the passenger chart above.

68%77%86% May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
32%63%93% May 2021May 2024May 2026
11%52%93% May 2016May 2021May 2026
11%52%93% Sep 2003Dec 2016May 2026

Load factor: seats data from 2009

When is this route busiest?

Average passengers by calendar month over the last ten years, relative to the annual average.

J: 1.12× the annual average J F: 0.77× the annual average F M: 0.84× the annual average M A: 0.85× the annual average A M: 0.49× the annual average M J: 0.78× the annual average J J: 1.55× the annual average J A: 1.55× the annual average A S: 1.32× the annual average S O: 0.80× the annual average O N: 0.83× the annual average N D: 1.11× the annual average D

Freight

Tonnes of air freight carried on this route — a dimension the domestic data does not have at all.

011 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
000 May 2021Apr 2024May 2026
001 May 2016Jun 2021May 2026
001 Jul 1995Feb 2015May 2026

To May 2026

The route in numbers

Busiest month on record23,778 · Aug 2025
Data coverageJul 1995 – May 2026 (228 months)
Destination regionNew Zealand

No punctuality data is published for international services, so there are no cancellation or on-time figures on this page. That series covers domestic routes only.

Related routes

From Brisbane

To Queenstown

Airport data