Cairns Airport is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

Cairns, Queensland Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Australia. Formerly operated by the

Cairns Port Authority Ports North, the trading name of the Far North Queensland Ports Corporation Limited, is a Queensland Government statutory corporation that is responsible for the Cairns Marlin Marina and the Cairns Cityport project and the ports in Cairns, Cape ...

, the airport was sold by the Queensland Government in December 2008 to a private consortium. It is the seventh busiest airport in Australia. The airport is located north northwest of Cairns or north of the Cairns central business district, in the suburb of Aeroglen. The airport lies between Mount Whitfield to the west and Trinity Bay to the east. The airport has direct flights to 10 international and 35 domestic destinations and many

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

flights including a number of

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

operators. Flights are operated to all major Australian cities and tourist destinations, regional communities in

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf Co ...

, and a number of international destinations in the Asia-Pacific region with connections to the rest of the world. The airport formed the main base for Australian Airlines prior to its ceasing of operations in June 2006 (the airport remains a major port for parent company

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

). It is also a base for the

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

and the

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

helicopters of the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

. In the 12 months ending 30 June 2019 Cairns Airport had just over 5 million passengers.

History

Cairns Airport goes back to 1928 when Tom McDonald started flying his

de Havilland Gipsy Moth The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. Development The DH.60 was developed from the larger DH.51 biplane. ...

off a sand ridge near the present airport. He could only land and take off between high tides. During one emergency, Tom was forced to take off from beer barrels. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the Australian Government bought the airport for use by the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. In 1943, the main runway was hard surfaced and lengthened to handle military aircraft. It was also used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as a transport base, with the 33d Troop Carrier Squadron (374th Troop Carrier Group) operating from the base during 1942. In 1949, the main runway was lengthened to to accommodate larger aircraft. During the mid-1960s, the airport was upgraded and the runway further lengthened to and strengthened so jets could land. During the 1970s, Australia's two domestic airlines

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...

and Ansett provided regular scheduled services to most Australian capital cities and also Papua New Guinea, while in 1975

Air Niugini Air Niugini Limited is the national airline of Papua New Guinea, based in Air Niugini House on the property of Jacksons International Airport, Port Moresby. It operates a domestic network from Port Moresby to 12 major airports while its subsidia ...

became the first international airline to commence flights out of Cairns, to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. In 1982, redevelopment of the airport commenced. This involved further lengthening of the runway to (making it the longest runway in Queensland) and construction of a new terminal building. The first stage of the redevelopment was finished in 1984 and a dual International and Domestic Terminal was opened. At the end of the decade the second stage of redevelopment was completed. This included a new separate International Terminal, associated aprons and taxiways, costing an estimated $80 million. The main runway was again extended, to . In 1997, the third stage of redevelopment was completed, during which a three-storey Airport Administration Centre was constructed providing of office space. A$200 million redevelopment of the Domestic terminal started in August 2007 and was completed in 2010. Check-in facilities were expanded into a common-user facility for all airlines, and the building enlarged. Five new jet bridges replaced the existing three old bridges. In January 2010, Auckland International Airport Limited announced that it had purchased 24.6 per cent of North Queensland Airports (NQA), operator of the airports at Cairns and Mackay, for about $132 million. A further upgrade of the Domestic terminal was begun in 2019 and completed in August 2020, at a total cost of $55 million. The purpose of the upgrade was to prepare the terminal to handle the domestic portion of the airport's projected 6 million passengers annually from 2027. The floor area of the departure hall was increased to , and an additional of dining and retail facilities were added. The upgrade also included expanded seating areas, a new interactive children's play screen, an upgraded Parenting Room, and a new Quiet Room. Prior to February 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic, Cairns Airport's chief aviation officer Luis Perez told the Cairns Post that he was in talks with 22 airlines to connect Cairns to destinations such as North America, Korea, Taipei, Malaysia, the Middle East, India, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Facilities

Terminals

Inside Cairns Airport International Terminal 01

The airport has two passenger terminals on the eastern side of the airport on reclaimed

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fre ...

. They are approximately north of the Cairns Central Shopping Centre and situated on Airport Avenue off Sheridan Street ( Captain Cook Highway). The terminals are in two separate buildings from one another. The Domestic terminal is number 2 and it has five

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

s and 17 gates, while the International Terminal is number 1 and it currently has six jet bridges and ten gates in total.Cairns Airport terminal information
retrieved 25 May 2011

Runways

The airport has a single runway which is long. The flight path to the north of the main runway is located directly overhead Cairns' northern beach suburbs. The flight path to the south is located directly over central Cairns. A smaller () runway 12/30 that was used for

lies to the east; its final approach crossed the main runway. As of April 2011 this runway is closed and has been converted to a helipad area.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Other tennants

There are operators of emergency medical retrieval and rescue services based at the airport, including

Emergency Management Queensland Emergency Management Queensland was the emergency division of the Department of Community Safety. The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service also belonged to the department. It aimed to plan and prepare for disasters as well as rescue and protect p ...

and the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an air medical service in Australia. It is a non-profit organisation that provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in rural, remote an ...

Statistics

Ground transport

;Taxi Ranks are located near both the International and Domestic Terminals. Cairns Taxis taxi ranks are located immediately outside the International and Domestic Terminals. ;Bus Airport shuttle bus services to hotels, city centre, Northern Beaches,

Palm Cove Palm Cove is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Palm Cove had a population of 2,059 people. It is named after the palm trees that line the beach. Geography Palm Cove is located in Far North Queensland on ...

, Port Douglas and

Cape Tribulation Cape Tribulation is a headland and coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas in northern Queensland, Australia. In the , Cape Tribulation had a population of 118 people. Geography The locality is north of Cairns. It is within the Daintree Na ...

are available. ;Parking Short-term and long-term parking, including a covered car park and parking for people with a disability are located within the public carparks adjacent to both the Domestic and International Terminals.

References

External links

* {{authority control Buildings and structures in Cairns Airports in Queensland Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Australia Airports established in 1928 1928 establishments in Australia Queensland in World War II Tourism in Cairns Transport in Cairns International airports in Australia