Cancelled
0.6%
1.5 pts better than average
Sydney to Cairns
SYD → CNS · 1,971 km · 229 flights a month · Cairns to Sydney
On time (departures)
79.4%
national 78.2%
Flight time
3h 10m
15m longer than the return
Latest month
1.0%
Jul 2026 cancelled
Airlines
4
on this direction
Punctuality: 12 months to Jul 2026
Flights between Sydney and Cairns carried 68,439 passengers in both directions in Jun 2026, ranking 16th of the 62 routes with reported traffic that month. Over the 12 months to Jul 2026, 0.6% of flights from Sydney to Cairns were cancelled, well below the national average of 2.1%. Traffic is still running at 74.9% of its 2019 average. The route is busiest in July and quietest in February.
The route
1,971 km great-circle · 3h 10m 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jetstar | 1,278 | 0.8% | 78.1% | |
| Virgin Australia | Virgin Australia Group | 949 | 0.3% | 82.8% |
| Qantas | Qantas Group | 497 | 0.2% | 78.6% |
| QantasLink | Qantas Group | 26 | 7.7% | 37.5% |
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 — Sydney to Cairns and back. The published statistics do not separate them. Cancellations, punctuality and flight numbers above are for Sydney to Cairns 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 Sydney to Cairns is 3h 10m gate to gate, over 1,971 km. The return leg is scheduled at 2h 55m — the two directions differ by 15m, so this way round is the slower 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
14 flight numbers currently scheduled from Sydney to Cairns. These are the numbers you book under — some are operated by a regional partner such as QantasLink or Alliance.
Typical flight time 3h 10m.
Scheduled every day this week — 69 departures in all.
Qantas · 6 · Airbus A320, Embraer 190, Airbus A321, Boeing 737-800
QF922 · QF1818 · QF5870 · QF5872 · QF5874 · QF5876
Jetstar · 5 · Airbus A320, Airbus A320 (Sharklets), Airbus A321
JQ950 · JQ952 · JQ954 · JQ956 · JQ958
Virgin Australia · 3 · Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737
VA1413 · VA1419 · VA1423
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 | 112,234 · Jul 2018 |
| Pandemic low | 369 · Sep 2021 |
| Traffic vs 2019 average | 74.9% |
| Load factor, Jun 2026 | 91.5% |
| Aircraft trips, Jun 2026 | 406 |
| Great-circle distance | 1,971 km |
Traffic: to Jun 2026