Australian Flight Data

Osaka to Cairns

Japan · 358 months of data from Mar 1992 · Cairns to Osaka

Passengers
63,276
Osaka to Cairns, 12 months to May 2026
Both directions
123,764
including Cairns to Osaka
Flight time
7h 10m
20m shorter than the return
Load factor
91%
seats filled on this leg

Traffic: 12 months to May 2026

63,276 passengers flew Osaka to Cairns in the 12 months to May 2026, out of 123,764 on the route in both directions. Flights run about 91% full, much the same in both directions. This route has been reported for 30 years.

The route

Cairns Osaka

Distances are true from Cairns; the ring marks the distance to Osaka.

How long is the flight?

Scheduled flight time from Osaka to Cairns is 7h 10m gate to gate, over 5,787 km. Coming back takes 7h 30m — 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

1 flight number currently scheduled from Osaka to Cairns. These are the numbers you book under.

Not a daily service — this week it is scheduled on Mon, Wed, Fri and Sun (4 departures).

Jetstar · 1 · Boeing 787-8

JQ16

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, 1992 to 2026

05,70311,405 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
08,60717,213Bonza 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 2022Jun 2024May 2026
08,60717,213Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 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 2016Jul 2022May 2026
08,60717,213Jetstar launches — May 2004 OzJet's all-business experiment ends within months — Jan 2006 Tiger Airways Australia enters the market — Apr 2008 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 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 Mar 1992Apr 2008May 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.

79%89%98% May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
35%67%98% Jul 2022Jul 2024May 2026
35%67%98% May 2016Mar 2020May 2026
6%52%98% Sep 2003Feb 2015May 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: 1.19× the annual average J F: 1.01× the annual average F M: 1.21× the annual average M A: 0.96× the annual average A M: 0.89× the annual average M J: 0.84× the annual average J J: 0.85× the annual average J A: 1.14× the annual average A S: 0.89× the annual average S O: 0.97× the annual average O N: 0.92× the annual average N D: 1.14× the annual average D

Freight

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

063126 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
088175 Jul 2022Jun 2024May 2026
088175 May 2016Jul 2022May 2026
0142284 Mar 1992Apr 2008May 2026

To May 2026

The route in numbers

Busiest month on record17,213 · Jan 2024
Data coverageMar 1992 – May 2026 (358 months)
Freight, 12 months to May 2026400 tonnes
Destination regionJapan

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 Cairns

To Osaka

Airport data