Cancelled
0.4%
1.7 pts better than average
Cairns to Brisbane
CNS → BNE · 1,391 km · 416 flights a month · Brisbane to Cairns
On time (departures)
81.4%
national 78.2%
Flight time
2h 15m
15m shorter than the return
Latest month
0.0%
Jul 2026 cancelled
Airlines
4
on this direction
Punctuality: 12 months to Jul 2026
Flights between Cairns and Brisbane carried 116,746 passengers in both directions in Jun 2026, ranking 10th of the 62 routes with reported traffic that month. Over the 12 months to Jul 2026, 0.4% of flights from Cairns to Brisbane were cancelled, well below the national average of 2.1%. The route is busiest in July and quietest in February.
The route
1,391 km great-circle · 2h 15m typical
Punctuality by airline
12 months to Jul 2026. Qantas and QantasLink are reported separately in the source data and are shown that way here — on many routes the difference between them is large.
| Airline | Group | Flights | Cancelled | On time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QantasLink | Qantas Group | 1,816 | 0.8% | 83.2% |
| Virgin Australia | Virgin Australia Group | 1,720 | 0.2% | 77.2% |
| Jetstar | 1,072 | 0.3% | 83.1% | |
| Qantas | Qantas Group | 384 | 0.0% | 87.5% |
Cancellations over time
Punctuality data begins Nov 2003 and runs to Jul 2026. Gaps are months with no reported services, not missing data.
Passengers, 1984 to 2026
Traffic: to Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events
Passenger figures count both directions together — Cairns to Brisbane and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Cairns to Brisbane only.
When is this route busiest?
Average passengers by calendar month, relative to the annual average. 2020 and 2021 are excluded — those years were a structural break, not a season, and leaving them in shifts the apparent peak month on most routes. Higher months are typically the more expensive ones to fly.
Both directions combined, as published.
How long is the flight?
Scheduled flight time from Cairns to Brisbane is 2h 15m gate to gate, over 1,391 km. The return leg is scheduled at 2h 30m — the two directions differ by 15m, so this way round is the quicker one.
This is scheduled block time — from leaving the gate to reaching it at the other end — not time in the air, and not a substitute for checking your own booking. It is a median across the flights currently timetabled on this leg.
Flight numbers on this route
27 flight numbers currently scheduled from Cairns to Brisbane. These are the numbers you book under — some are operated by a regional partner such as QantasLink or Alliance.
Typical flight time 2h 15m.
Scheduled every day this week — 106 departures in all.
Qantas · 17 · Airbus A220-300, Embraer 190, Airbus A320, Airbus A320-200
QF266 · QF707 · QF709 · QF1561 · QF1563 · QF1565 · QF1567 · QF1569 · QF1881 · QF1883 · QF1885 · QF1887 · QF1891 · QF5844 · QF5846 · QF5909 · QF5911
Virgin Australia · 6 · Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-800 (winglets), Boeing 737, Boeing 737-700
VA770 · VA776 · VA780 · VA782 · VA786 · VA792
Jetstar · 4 · Airbus A320, Airbus A320 (Sharklets), Airbus A320-200, Airbus A321 NEO
JQ929 · JQ931 · JQ935 · JQ937
Current timetable as at 2026-09-06
Timetables change; these are not a booking source and carry no punctuality figures of their own. The cancellation and on-time rates above are for the route as a whole, not for any single flight number — per-flight performance is not collected.
The route in numbers
| Busiest month on record | 129,914 · Jul 2017 |
| Pandemic low | 3,906 · Apr 2020 |
| Traffic vs 2019 average | 94.2% |
| Load factor, Jun 2026 | 93.0% |
| Aircraft trips, Jun 2026 | 841 |
| Great-circle distance | 1,391 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026