Cheapest€164.75
- Virgin Australia VA629606:013h 18m09:19Cairns CNSSydney SYD
Door to door 6h 28mCO2 496.9 kgChanges 0Fixed, no changes
Cairns to Sydney flight
Flights from Cairns to Sydney start at €197.79 and take 6h 10m at their fastest.
The Flights from Cairns to Sydney starts at €197.79 and takes 6h 10m door to door, run by 2 operators over 2,020 km, with around 10 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 45 days before departure.
- 6h 10mDoor to door
- 3hMoving
- €197.79From
- 496.9 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€210.77
- Virgin Australia VA281310:153h13:15Cairns CNSSydney SYD
Door to door 6h 10mCO2 496.9 kgChanges 0Fixed, no changes
Lowest CO2€236.14
- Cathay Pacific CP538007:302h 18m09:48Cairns CNSBrisbane BNE
- NSW TrainLink NS812110:385h 9m15:47South Brisbane railway stationNorth Sydney railway station
Changes at Brisbane, with 50 minutes between services and a walk of about 14 minutes.
Door to door 10h 14mCO2 376.2 kgChanges 1Fixed, no changes
Airlines
Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.
| Operator | From |
|---|---|
 Alliance Airlines | €172.42 |
| Virgin Australia | €164.75 |
The flight gets you into Sydney. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.
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When to book Cairns to Sydney
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €214.9090 days
- €134.6660 days
- €125.1945 days
- €151.7730 days
- €188.3521 days
- €211.3614 days
- €236.297 days
- €271.543 days
- €435.561 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €125.19.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 248 percent. The most expensive point is €435.56, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 45 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.
- €225.52Sun
- €186.79Mon
- €211.54Tue
- €214.90Wed
- €283.93Thu
- €211.36Fri
- €244.40Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.
Cairns
Air
- CNS
Sydney
Air
- SYD
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
- 67% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 33% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 2,020 km against 1,961 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 Brisbane, Townsville, Mackay, Sunshine Coast. The gap between arriving and leaving is 50 minutes, of which about 14 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 19 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 Cairns at 06:01 and the last at 18:41, across 10 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Questions about Cairns to Sydney
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 Cairns to Sydney take?
The Flight from Cairns to Sydney takes 6h 10m door to door, of which 3h is spent moving. The route runs 2,020 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 Cairns to Sydney cost?
The Flight from Cairns to Sydney starts at €197.79 for one passenger, checked on September 29, 2026. A typical fare is €187.17. 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 Cairns to Sydney?
2 operators run the Flight from Cairns to Sydney: Alliance Airlines, Virgin Australia. Between them they file around 10 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 Cairns to Sydney use?
The Flight from Cairns to Sydney leaves from Cairns CNS and arrives at Sydney SYD. 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 Cairns to Sydney?
Fares for the Flight from Cairns to Sydney bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €125.19. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 248 percent, measured on September 29, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Flight from Cairns to Sydney produce?
The Flight from Cairns to Sydney produces about 496.9 kg of CO2 per passenger over 2020 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 Cairns to Sydney on September 11, 2026: 2020 km of route against 1961 km in a straight line, 10 services a day, 2 operators, a cheapest fare of €197.79, and 6h 10m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
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