CNS

R24 679 Find Cheap Flights to Cairns

This is the cheapest return flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight to Cairns departing on 31/1. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
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0 bags

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These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to Cairns
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results for flights to Cairns
In the last 7 days, travellers have searched 41 299 237 times on KAYAK, and here's why:

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Cheap Flight Deals to Cairns

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for return flights to Cairns that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.

Recent return flight deals from South Africa to Cairns

Recommended round-trip deals departing in the coming months from the most popular airlines that fly from South Africa to Cairns.
Discover the best prices and deals for you by selecting your travel dates.
Choose your dates
13:20 - 23:15JNB-CNS
49h 55m2 stops
9:15 - 15:35CNS-JNB
38h 20m2 stops
R24 679Qatar Airways
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 31 - Fri, Feb 7
13:45 - 17:20JNB-CNS
43h 35m1 stop
18:35 - 6:10CNS-JNB
43h 35m1 stop
R24 893Singapore Airlines
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 31 - Fri, Feb 7
17:15 - 11:50JNB-CNS
34h 35m1 stop
15:35 - 14:45CNS-JNB
31h 10m2 stops
R25 804Qantas Airways
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 31 - Fri, Feb 7
22:20 - 18:00JNB-CNS
59h 40m2 stops
12:45 - 10:25CNS-JNB
53h 40m3 stops
R28 465Emirates
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 31 - Fri, Feb 7
13:20 - 5:35JNB-CNS
56h 15m2 stops
16:05 - 14:40CNS-JNB
30h 35m2 stops
R29 179
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 17 - Thu, Jan 23
8:50 - 5:35JNB-CNS
60h 45m2 stops
9:45 - 14:40CNS-JNB
36h 55m3 stops
R30 269
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 17 - Thu, Jan 23
13:25 - 8:30JNB-CNS
35h 05m3 stops
7:00 - 14:40CNS-JNB
39h 40m3 stops
R31 322
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 17 - Thu, Jan 23
13:20 - 8:30JNB-CNS
35h 10m3 stops
9:45 - 16:00CNS-JNB
38h 15m3 stops
R31 394
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 31 - Fri, Feb 7
20:00 - 6:10JNB-CNS
50h 10m2 stops
18:20 - 14:45CNS-JNB
28h 25m1 stop
R33 769
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 17 - Thu, Jan 23
17:15 - 22:30JNB-CNS
21h 15m1 stop
12:35 - 14:45CNS-JNB
34h 10m1 stop
R36 179Qantas Airways
Find Deal
Fri, Jan 17 - Thu, Jan 23

Flights to Cairns - Travel Insights & Trends

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights to Cairns to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What is the cheapest day to fly to Cairns?

The average price of all round-trip flights to Cairns clicked on KAYAK for each day over the last 12 months.
Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to Cairns is Tuesday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as R21 033. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Saturday, where round-trip prices are R30 849 on average.

What is the cheapest time of day to fly to Cairns?

The average price for all round-trip flights to Cairns depending on the time of departure, clicked by users on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks.
The cheapest time of day to fly to Cairns is generally in the morning, when round-trip flights cost R24 728 on average. The most expensive time of day to fly to Cairns is generally in the evening, which is peak travel time and where the average cost of a ticket is R31 431.

Good to know

Low season

April

High season

December

Cheapest flight

R24 679
Best time to beat the crowds (3% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (13% more expensive on average)
Flight from Johannesburg to Cairns

When to book flights to Cairns

Are your dates flexible? Find out the best times to travel to Cairns based on our flight data from the last year. Discover the cheapest month and even day to fly.
Estimated return price
KAYAK looks at all historical flight data for each date to provide a predicted price for one-way trips or returns with a duration up to 40 days. The information is for flights to Cairns based on your location. While we try to provide actual minimum prices for each date, some prices are predictions and actual prices may differ.

FAQs - booking Cairns flights

  • How far is Cairns Airport from central Cairns?

    Central Cairns is 4 km away from Cairns Airport.

  • What is the name of Cairns’s airport?

    There is only 1 airport in Cairns, called Cairns Airport (CNS). It can also be referred to as Cairns or Cairns Intl.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights to Cairns?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights to Cairns.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket to Cairns?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Cairns is likely to change within 7 days, so travellers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights to Cairns?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to Cairns with an airline and back with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight to Cairns?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to Cairns up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

See more FAQs

Top tips for finding cheap flights to Cairns

  • High season is considered to be June, July and August. The cheapest month to fly from South Africa is February.
  • Enter your preferred departure airport and travel dates into the search form above to unlock the latest Cairns flight deals.

Prefer to fly direct to Cairns?

Find which airlines fly direct to Cairns Airport, which days they fly and book direct flights.

Direct departures

South Africa to Cairns

Monday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +27 more

ANA, Air Canada, +28 more

Tuesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +25 more

ANA, Air Canada, +26 more

Wednesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

Thursday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +26 more

ANA, Air Canada, +27 more

Friday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

Saturday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +24 more

ANA, Air Canada, +25 more

Sunday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

See more direct flights

Direct returns

Cairns to South Africa

Monday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +27 more

ANA, Air Canada, +28 more

Tuesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +25 more

ANA, Air Canada, +26 more

Wednesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

Thursday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +26 more

ANA, Air Canada, +27 more

Friday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

Saturday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +24 more

ANA, Air Canada, +25 more

Sunday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

See more direct flights
See more direct flights

Top 3 airlines flying to Cairns

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying to Cairns. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline from South Africa to Cairns. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with to Cairns? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8,1
EmiratesOverall score based on 3411 reviews
8,3Crew
8,1Boarding
8,0Comfort
8,2Entertainment
7,9Food
Airline reviews

Some Crew were distinguishably fake in their interactions with passengers.

8,0 ExcellentAnonymous, Nov 2024DXB - ORD
Read more Emirates reviews

Some Crew were distinguishably fake in their interactions with passengers.

The food was amazing on our flight. So many options for movies and shows to stay entertained for 12 hours.

A very disappointing flight on this Emirates business class. Staff were not efficient and service was not the e usual Emirates experience. Good was particularly bad with very dry chicken and drinks that I had to press call button before getting a drink as my food sat and continue to get cold.

Usually Emirates is my go to Airline on this flight: 1) All the crew seemed very inexperienced 2) Meal service for 7 hour flight was very slow - slowest I have ever experienced. 3) ONE flight attendant in economy serviced everyone on the left aisle in 2 cabins - thats 6 passengers per row (half the row) and over 30 rows of passengers. The others were no where to be seen. Thats pouring drinks and serving trays and offering options of meal and drinks for 180 passengers. by herself. In most flights it's 2 attendants per cart servicing one section. 4) Meal was not served till 3.5 hours later for some passengers at the back. 5) As a result only one meal was served even though the menu explicitly said 2. 6) Everyone was thirsty and starving 7) There were 2 loud crashes at the back galley 8) One passenger was out cold due to the sleeping tablets he had taken. The Flight attendants in their inexperience chose to try wake him up and create a situation where passengers were panicking and the passenger finally woke up and was annoyed. 9) They chose to wake up every sleeping passenger to feed them rather than move past the sleeping passengers. Do they know how hard it is to actually sleep on a plane?

The lounge staff at reception were inefficient and robotic. Boarding process was chaotic at the gate with no priority for business and first. At arrival into Dubai, no upper deck door . Food option and quality for this flight was awful . Thankfully the bar is always good.

No Vegetarian options onboard, made to wait for a long time for boarding

More than two hours delay I could not do my tax refund because of the delay to check in They lost my luggage

The internet connection did was not functioning as per normal.

Always my favourite airline. On time, lovely staff, clean comfortable seats. Well done

Flight good but it was 30min late taking off. Also don’t like landing then being loaded on bus and driven around the airport like it’s a sightseeing tour.

Check in was easy through self-check-in kiosks just like domestic flights. Staff onboard were fantastic. Some "book the cook" good options weren't great, others really good. Entertainment options a bit limited to what I've experienced on Qantas. Overall a good flight though, especially for the price.

The food options and quality could use some more excitement and variety.

Great airline. Excellent service, good food & lots of TV movies/shows to choose from.

Crews were very caring and polite. Washroom was surprisingly clean. Overall experience was good , only food choices was very limited. Thanks

The seats were more narrow than at other lines. Food was mediocre (economy class)

The crew have great customer service but their economy seating isn’t the most comfortable for a 220lbs+ guy and the food wasn’t bad, but wasn’t exceptional, either.

Service excellent would chose Singapore airlines as my first choice

The staff were amazing and very kind. The seats recline a little too far back and are up close when sitting behind.

My groups frequent flyer star allianceUnited airline miles was not accepted. The Singapore premium economy bag had to be requested, it was very lacking- no toothbrush. I paid more than double than economy but could only use the bathrooms sharing with economy which was hardly available and had to wait in line. Is the 2X $ worth it just for a larger seat???? It is questionable. Seats were not that comfortable. My husband’s seat had white stains on it- had to wipe it down. Our headphones did not have covers on it. Food- way too much.

The booking experience was bad. Our six character booking ID number disappeared the day before the flight, We could not find out what happened or what was the status of our flight, scheduled for the next day. We finally found the right number to contact Singapore Airlines on the matter (not easy). The Singapore agent worked through the issue in a little over thirty minutes on the phone, the day before the flight. That was great. I'm very happy with Singapore Airlines and their performance. Contact with a competent person on the matter was near impossible. It seems no one in business these days wants to deal with customers once they've pocketed the money. There were resellers, including Kayak, involved in the chain. When we finally got through to Underpricer, we did get a return call that could have proved helpful. But by that time the matter had been resolved by the Singapore agent. Majestic Vacations, the reseller who received the payment was less than worthless. That's just a fast buck operation. Ugh.

Headphone jacks worked poorly, seat recline was broken. Planes were rundown.

Delayed and missed connection, was not re-booked like other travelers so ended up being stuck for several hours due to no one handling my booking.

same as previous comments. i hate being on a plane that long. no problems w/anything else.

It was very nice. I will try to fly with Qantas whenever I can.

Terrible. 6 hour delay with no explanations and only 15 dollars in food credits. A disaster. I'll just leave it at that.

Much better than I expected for such a long flight.

Flight was cancelled about 1.5 hours before departure. Replacement flight provided scheduled 1 hour later. Late boarding, late departure and arrived Melbourne nearly 2 hours after originally scheduled.

Good - better than other airlines in terms of food and seat comfort.

It’s a very long flight and there are so many people on board. Perhaps a warm washcloth now and then to freshen up

The crew was very helpful to my family, especially when my daughter became sick during the flight. Will fly with them again.

Book Cheap Cairns Plane Tickets

Recent return flight deals

 
These are the cheapest return flights to Cairns found on KAYAK in the last 72 hours.
31/1Fri
2 stopsQatar Airways
49h 55mJNB-CNS
7/2Fri
2 stopsQatar Airways
38h 20mCNS-JNB
R24 679
31/1Fri
1 stopSingapore Airlines
43h 35mJNB-CNS
7/2Fri
1 stopSingapore Airlines
43h 35mCNS-JNB
R24 893
31/1Fri
1 stopQantas Airways
34h 35mJNB-CNS
7/2Fri
2 stopsQantas Airways
31h 10mCNS-JNB
R25 804
31/1Fri
2 stopsEmirates
59h 40mJNB-CNS
7/2Fri
3 stopsEmirates
53h 40mCNS-JNB
R28 465
17/1Fri
2 stops
56h 15mJNB-CNS
23/1Thu
2 stops
30h 35mCNS-JNB
R29 179
17/1Fri
2 stops
60h 45mJNB-CNS
23/1Thu
3 stops
36h 55mCNS-JNB
R30 269
17/1Fri
3 stops
35h 05mJNB-CNS
23/1Thu
3 stops
39h 40mCNS-JNB
R31 322
31/1Fri
3 stops
35h 10mJNB-CNS
7/2Fri
3 stops
38h 15mCNS-JNB
R31 394
17/1Fri
2 stops
50h 10mJNB-CNS
23/1Thu
1 stop
28h 25mCNS-JNB
R33 769
17/1Fri
1 stopQantas Airways
21h 15mJNB-CNS
23/1Thu
1 stopQantas Airways
34h 10mCNS-JNB
R36 179

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One-way flight deals

multi-stopMultiple Airlines
18885 kmJNB-CNS
multi-stopMultiple Airlines
19398 kmCPT-CNS

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Everything you need to know for your flight to Cairns

Information on the airport you'll fly into in Cairns

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