Cheapest€116.37
- National Jet Express NJ412118:492h 24m21:13Brisbane BNECairns CNS
Door to door 5h 34mCO2 352.0 kgChanges 0Fixed, no changes
Brisbane to Cairns flight
Flights from Brisbane to Cairns start at €142.92 and take 5h 24m at their fastest.
The Flights from Brisbane to Cairns starts at €142.92 and takes 5h 24m door to door, run by 3 operators over 1,431 km, with around 13 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 60 days before departure.
- 5h 24mDoor to door
- 2h 14mMoving
- €142.92From
- 352.0 kgCO2
The cheapest and the fastest on September 29, 2026
Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.
Fastest€150.00
- National Jet Express NJ890406:342h 14m08:48Brisbane BNECairns CNS
Door to door 5h 24mCO2 352.0 kgChanges 0Fixed, no changes
Airlines
Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.
| Operator | From | Fastest |
|---|---|---|
| Virgin Australia | €116.96 | 5h 23m |
 Cathay Pacific | €122.86 | 5h 23m |
 National Jet Express | €116.37 | 5h 22m |
That is the traveling done. What happens after you walk out into Cairns is not something we sell.
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When to book Brisbane to Cairns
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €150.5990 days
- €88.6460 days
- €99.2645 days
- €115.7830 days
- €133.4821 days
- €169.4714 days
- €210.187 days
- €213.133 days
- €312.251 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €88.64.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 252 percent. The most expensive point is €312.25, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Which departure day costs least
Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.
- €172.42Sun
- €144.10Mon
- €142.92Tue
- €158.26Wed
- €198.97Thu
- €169.47Fri
- €196.02Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.
Brisbane
Air
- BNE
Cairns
Air
- CNS
What the journey actually looks like
Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.
- Direct or connecting
- 75% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 25% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 1,431 km against 1,390 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Townsville, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Mackay. The gap between arriving and leaving is 45 minutes, of which about 14 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 20 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
- First and last departure
- The first service of the day leaves Brisbane at 06:01 and the last at 18:49, across 13 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Questions about Brisbane to Cairns
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns take?
The Flight from Brisbane to Cairns takes 5h 24m door to door, of which 2h 14m is spent moving. The route runs 1,431 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.
How much does the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns cost?
The Flight from Brisbane to Cairns starts at €142.92 for one passenger, checked on September 29, 2026. A typical fare is €134.66. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.
Who runs the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns?
3 operators run the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns: Virgin Australia, Cathay Pacific, National Jet Express. Between them they file around 13 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.
Which terminal does the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns use?
The Flight from Brisbane to Cairns leaves from Brisbane BNE and arrives at Cairns CNS. Allow about 3h 10m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.
When should I book the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns?
Fares for the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €88.64. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 252 percent, measured on September 29, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Flight from Brisbane to Cairns produce?
The Flight from Brisbane to Cairns produces about 352.0 kg of CO2 per passenger over 1431 km, which works out at roughly 246 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.
Where these numbers come from
Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.
Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Brisbane to Cairns on September 11, 2026: 1431 km of route against 1390 km in a straight line, 13 services a day, 3 operators, a cheapest fare of €142.92, and 5h 24m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
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