Passengers
8,779
Hong Kong to Cairns, 12 months to Feb 2026
Hong Kong to Cairns
Hong Kong (SAR) · 420 months of data from Jan 1986 · Cairns to Hong Kong
Both directions
17,635
including Cairns to Hong Kong
Load factor
61%
seats filled on this leg
Traffic: 12 months to Feb 2026
8,779 passengers flew Hong Kong to Cairns in the 12 months to Feb 2026, out of 17,635 on the route in both directions. Flights run about 61% full, much the same in both directions. This route has been reported for 35 years.
Passenger history milestones
Recorded milestones use this city-pair passenger series, with both directions combined. A first positive record is not a service-launch date; complete calendar years require all twelve observed, non-null months.
First positive passenger record
Jan 1986
first recorded month with passengers > 0
Peak complete year
2005
99,875 passengers
Latest complete year
2018
70,985 passengers
The route
Distances are true from Cairns; the ring marks the distance to Hong Kong.
Passengers, 1986 to 2026
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
To Feb 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.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
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.
Freight
Tonnes of air freight carried on this route — a dimension the domestic data does not have at all.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.
To Feb 2026
The route in numbers
| Busiest month on record | 10,993 · Aug 2005 |
| Data coverage | Jan 1986 – Feb 2026 (420 months) |
| Freight, 12 months to Feb 2026 | 391 tonnes |
| Destination region | Hong Kong (SAR) |
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.