Australian Flight Data

Port Moresby to Cairns

Papua New Guinea · 491 months of data from Jan 1985 · Cairns to Port Moresby

Passengers
21,386
Port Moresby to Cairns, 12 months to May 2026
Both directions
42,332
including Cairns to Port Moresby
Flight time
1h 30m
scheduled, gate to gate
Load factor
45%
seats filled on this leg

Traffic: 12 months to May 2026

21,386 passengers flew Port Moresby to Cairns in the 12 months to May 2026, out of 42,332 on the route in both directions. Flights run about 45% full, much the same in both directions. This route has been reported for 41 years.

The route

Cairns Port Moresby

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

How long is the flight?

Scheduled flight time from Port Moresby to Cairns is 1h 30m gate to gate, over 839 km. The return leg is scheduled at much the same, 1h 30m.

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

2 flight numbers currently scheduled from Port Moresby to Cairns. These are the numbers you book under.

Scheduled every day this week — 10 departures in all.

Air Niugini · 2 · Airbus A220-300

PX90 · PX98

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, 1985 to 2026

02,2254,449 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
02,2254,449Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 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 Oct 2021Feb 2024May 2026
04,0858,169Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 The deepest month: domestic traffic falls 96% — Apr 2020 Rex enters the trunk routes with jets — Mar 2021 Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 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 2016Feb 2021May 2026
04,9099,817The pilots' dispute grounds domestic aviation — Aug 1989 Domestic deregulation ends the Two Airline Policy — Oct 1990 Virgin Blue launches — Aug 2000 Ansett Australia collapses — Sep 2001 Jetstar 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 The deepest month: domestic traffic falls 96% — Apr 2020 Rex enters the trunk routes with jets — Mar 2021 Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 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 Jan 1985Jun 2005May 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.

30%46%63% May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
30%51%72% Oct 2021Mar 2024May 2026
4%40%76% May 2016Jan 2021May 2026
4%42%79% Sep 2003Jun 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: 0.96× the annual average J F: 0.70× the annual average F M: 0.81× the annual average M A: 0.96× the annual average A M: 0.92× the annual average M J: 1.03× the annual average J J: 1.15× the annual average J A: 1.07× the annual average A S: 1.13× the annual average S O: 1.06× the annual average O N: 1.01× the annual average N D: 1.21× the annual average D

Freight

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

013 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
01631 Oct 2021Feb 2024May 2026
063125 May 2016Feb 2021May 2026
0113226 Jan 1985Jun 2005May 2026

To May 2026

The route in numbers

Busiest month on record9,817 · Sep 2012
Data coverageJan 1985 – May 2026 (491 months)
Freight, 12 months to May 20269 tonnes
Destination regionPapua New Guinea

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 Port Moresby

Airport data