Cairns Airport becoming a north Australian international hub as its ownership group goes up for sale
When one thinks of Australia, the town of Cairns does not automatically spring to mind. This north-Queensland town is the busiest north-Australian airport, and much of that is down to nearby tourist attractions, including the Great Barrier Reef.
A recent flurry of new, or reinstated, route announcements have given a positive boost to an airport that had recovered rather more rapidly from the COVID-19 pandemic than did some of its peers. Moreover, some are more than your historical point-to-point services.
Fiji Airways will offer connections to the United States and Canada, for example, and a Jetstar service will connect Cairns directly with Christchurch, so that ecologically aware long-distance travellers might have the option of combining a visit to the Great Barrier with one to the pristine beauty of New Zealand's South Island.
All this is going on while offers are sought to sell 100% of the operating company that manages both Cairns and Mackay airports under concession.
All are matters that are bound to find their way onto the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific 2025 agenda, which will be held at the Cairns Convention Centre on 31-Jul-2025 and 01-Aug-2025.
Summary
- CAPA conference to take place at North Australian airport in a city that is fast becoming a major tourist centre.
- Cairns is both a gateway airport and a hub.
- COVID-19 recovery there continued into 2024.
- Still some way off previous record traffic figures, but international numbers are rising.
- Full service carriers predominate; contribution from regional airlines.
- Remoteness not helped by lack of alliance airlines.
- At the centre of major tourism attractions – both domestically, and increasingly, internationally.
- New or resumed flights to key cities – directly and with connections.
- Terminal upgrade under way, while concession ownership will likely change this year.
- CAPA event to attract leaders from the aviation, tourism and hospitality industries.
CAPA conference to take place at North Australian airport in city fast becoming a major tourist centre
CAPA - Centre for Aviation's Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific 2025 will be held in Cairns, a city that has the 15th largest population within its urban area - yet it has an airport that is the seventh busiest in the country.
In both cases, Cairns is ahead of the other major cities with an international airport in the north of the country; namely Darwin (the Northern Territory's capital) (17th and 11th respectively), and also Broome (Western Australia), which are 84th and 22nd respectively.
Domestic and international tourism is at the heart of its surge to prominence.
Despite its regional significance, and status as the northern international gateway to Australia, few words are expended on the city-region or the airport.
Location of Cairns, Queensland Australia
Source: Google Maps.
Cairns Airport is the major international and domestic gateway to far north Queensland and is operated by Cairns Airport Pty Ltd, which itself is owned and operated by North Queensland Airports (which also owns and operates Mackay Airport). There might be some movement forthcoming on its ownership status, and that is mentioned later.
A major tourist destination, Cairns and its airport currently host 13 airlines operating both domestically and internationally to South East Asia, based on CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG data for the week commencing 30-Jun-2025.
There are 35 nonstop passenger destinations in all: 27 domestic and eight international.
Cairns Airport: network map for the week commencing 30-Jun-2025
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG.
Both a gateway airport and a hub
Cairns is a gateway to the north of Australia, and also acts as a hub for domestic connections to and from both major and minor cities, especially in the north of Queensland, as well as internationally to New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Nadi (Fiji).
In the analysis week (w/c 30-Jun-2025), Japan is the biggest source of seats, with 42.7%, followed by New Zealand with 16.4% and then Indonesia (14.4%) and Singapore (12.1%).
Currently it lacks connections from and to China and South Korea.
Passenger traffic growth was consistent but unspectacular for the decade from 2010 to 2019.
The impact of the COVID -19 global pandemic was not as profound as witnessed elsewhere, with a reduction in 2020 that was 10 percentage points less than in Sydney and Melbourne, and a traffic gain in 2021 of 36% (while those, and other Australian cities, continued to lose passengers).
COVID-19 recovery continued into 2024
That growth continued throughout 2023 and 2024, although it did diminish in common with most airports, and in the first two months of 2025 (the most recent available statistic has resumed what was the typical annual growth pattern at Cairns in the previous decade, at +2.6%).
Cairns Airport: annual traffic, passenger numbers/growth, from 2009 to 2025
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and Australian Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.
Still some way off previous record traffic figures, but international numbers are rising
At 4.7 million passengers in 2024, Cairns is still approximately 250,000 short of its record highs, which were reached jointly in 2017 and 2018.
Growth projections for 2025 suggest that it might again fall just short of those totals, but on the positive side - international travellers are consistently tracking in excess of 2019 levels.
Cairns is, in the main, a domestic airport, though, with 86% of capacity on those flights (w/c 30-Jun-2025).
In that week Qantas' wholly owned LCC Jetstar Airways is the principal airline, with 46% of seat capacity, with the mainline airline on 16% - so almost two thirds of all capacity is within the Qantas group.
The other major player is Virgin Australia, with 26%.
Cairns Airport: system two-way seats, all airlines, week commencing 30-Jun-2025
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG.
However, the Qantas mainline airline has more movements - and especially in peak times.
At Cairns around 94% of capacity is on Australian, as opposed to foreign, airlines.
Full service carriers predominate; contribution from regional airlines
In the week commencing 30-Jun-2025, full service carriers still have the edge on capacity generally, while there is a significant contribution of 6% from regional/commuter airlines - led by Airnorth, with its unusual slogan of 'Together we fly'.
Cairns Airport: system seats by business model
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG.
The main 3,200 metre by 45 metre runway could handle most commercial aircraft easily, and it is used by the Boeing 787-8 and Airbus A350-900, as well as a wide range of regional aircraft types. But its main users are Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A320s.
Remoteness not helped by lack of alliance airlines
Considering its relatively remote location, Cairns might benefit from the attraction of more alliance member airlines. Presently only a fifth of its seats are on aligned airlines (20.3% in w/c 30-Jun-2025).
That position should change with some of the new or reintroduced services that are mentioned later.
The airport is well utilised for typically 20 hours a day. It is open 24/7 and does not have a curfew, despite being located close (7 km/4 miles) to the city centre.
The chart below is of utilisation (arriving and departing seats) by the hour for Monday 30-Jun-2025.
Cairns Airport: system seats per hour for 30-Jun-2025
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG.
At centre of major tourism attractions - both domestically, and increasingly, internationally
For visitors - what does Cairns and its region offer?
By the late 20th century the city had become a centre of international tourism, and in the early 21st century it has developed into a major regional city.
The economy of Cairns is based primarily on tourism, healthcare and education, along with a major capacity in aviation, marine and defence industries.
The city has a gross regional product of approximately AUD12.2 billion, as of 2024. Apart from the airport, Cairns also has a major cruise ship industry servicing both domestic and international markets, with terminals at Cairns Seaport and Cairns Wharf Complex.
Cairns is a major tourist destination, with its tropical climate and access to two UNESCO world heritage sites: the Daintree Rainforest as part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland, and the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Promotional representation of attractions close to Cairns
Source: Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
The Great Barrier Reef will continue to be an attraction to a global audience for as long as climate change dominates the news.
For that reason alone there are opportunities to develop specific tourism demand from developed countries and territories in Asia Pacific, including South Korea, Hong Kong and one or more cities in mainland China.
New or resumed flights to key cities - directly and with connections
Just before this report, Cairns Airport announced that Cathay Pacific was planning to resume three times weekly Hong Kong-Cairns service with Airbus A330 equipment, effective 09-Dec-2025 to 28-Feb-2026, thus adding a key connector on visitor and freight markets across the Chinese mainland, United Kingdom, Europe and India.
Before that, in Apr-2025, Fiji Airways launched three times weekly Nadi-Cairns service, with Boeing 737 MAX equipment. The objective was to provide faster one-stop connections to North America, saving three hours and skipping additional stopovers for Australians in the region.
Also in Apr-2025 Cairns Airport saw the launch of three times weekly Cairns-Christchurch service by Jetstar Airways - the first-ever direct flight to Cairns from New Zealand's South Island, opening up the very realistic prospect of long haul travellers being able to visit the ecologically significant South Island and the Great Barrier Reef on the same trip.
And at the same time, Airnorth launched three times weekly Alice Springs-Cairns service on 14-Apr-2025, adding an anticipated 30,000 seats per annum between the cities.
In 2024 Singapore Airlines introduced widebody Airbus A350 services, and AirAsia Indonesia began flying to Cairns Airport for the first time.
It is not hard to understand why within Cairns these routes collectively are believed to signify its evolution as a tourism hub, connecting numerous attractions both within and outside Australia.
The Cairns Regional Council will invest AUD14.5 million (USD9.3 million) into destination marketing over the next four years, through the continued support of Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
Terminal upgrade - an AUD55 million (USD34.6 million) project
Cairns Airport unveiled a new large baggage belt in the international terminal, which started operations during the week ending 23-Mar-2025. The airport also announced the recent opening of a new facility operated by 'Escape Lounges' in the terminal.
Both projects form part of an AUD55 million (USD34.6 million) project to upgrade the terminal, which is scheduled for completion at the end of 2025. The final construction phase includes installation of the second baggage belt, refurbishment of the departures area with new flooring and seating, remodelled bathrooms, as well as F&B and retail enhancements.
Concession ownership will likely change this year
The airport is operated under concession by Cairns Airport Pty Ltd (North Queensland Airports - NQA, which also includes Mackay Airport). NQA itself has been owned by three entities, as below, since Mar-2018 when Auckland Airport sold its 24.5% holding.
Cairns Airport: ownership as at 30-Jun-2025
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation.
In Oct 2024 all three shareholders opted to offload their stakes in an AUD3 billion auction that was intended to launch before Christmas 2024, but which was put back until Apr-2025, with Macquarie Capital advising on the sale process. The 100% stake of NQA is being offered, which includes Cairns Airport.
It is the first 100% sale of a privately held airport asset with more than one million passengers annually in the past 15 years in Australia, but there has been movement in the market generally in the last year, prompted by a revaluation of airport assets (mainly by superannuation fund owners, and a prior over-focus on the sector which could not be sustained).
CAPA event to attract leaders from the aviation, tourism and hospitality industries
Cairns is a good example of a small-medium regional airport that is proactive, rather than reactive, in identifying and developing new markets. And just what those markets are will be revealed at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific 2025 which will be held at the Cairns Convention Centre on 31-Jul-2025 and 01-Aug-2025.
The event will feature leaders from the aviation, tourism and hospitality industries to the region for a series of strategic sessions aimed at shaping the future of air travel.
Airport CEO Richard Barker stated: "Hosting CAPA will enable us to welcome the cream of the aviation and tourism sectors to Cairns, the northern gateway to Australia. We will be front and centre as our industry's top executives examine where we're headed, with insights into local and global trends".