CNS

Find Cheap Flights to Cairns

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Search hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to Cairns

 
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
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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 to Cairns

Recommended return deals departing in the coming months from the most popular airlines that fly to Cairns.
Discover the best prices and deals for you by selecting your travel dates.
Choose your dates
JNB-CNS
18885 kmmulti-stop
CNS-JNB
18885 kmmulti-stop
Multiple Airlines
Find Deal
CPT-CNS
19398 kmmulti-stop
CNS-CPT
19398 kmmulti-stop
Multiple Airlines
Find Deal

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 R22 192. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Saturday, where round-trip prices are R32 548 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 R26 091 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 R33 163.

Good to know

Low season

November

High season

December
Best time to beat the crowds (4% less expensive on average)
Most popular time to fly (15% more expensive on average)

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

  • Book at least 3 weeks before departure in order to get a below-average price.
  • 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, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

Tuesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +26 more

ANA, Air Canada, +27 more

Wednesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +29 more

ANA, Air Canada, +30 more

Thursday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +27 more

ANA, Air Canada, +28 more

Friday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +29 more

ANA, Air Canada, +30 more

Saturday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +24 more

ANA, Air Canada, +25 more

Sunday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +29 more

ANA, Air Canada, +30 more

See more direct flights

Direct returns

Cairns to South Africa

Monday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +28 more

ANA, Air Canada, +29 more

Tuesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +26 more

ANA, Air Canada, +27 more

Wednesday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +29 more

ANA, Air Canada, +30 more

Thursday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +27 more

ANA, Air Canada, +28 more

Friday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +29 more

ANA, Air Canada, +30 more

Saturday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +24 more

ANA, Air Canada, +25 more

Sunday

ANA, Air Canada, Air France, +29 more

ANA, Air Canada, +30 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 3350 reviews
8,0Comfort
8,2Entertainment
7,9Food
8,3Crew
8,1Boarding
Airline reviews

Flight left on time. Bags came quickly. Crew was nice. But internet never worked and the food was awful.

6,0 GoodAvram, Jan 2025AMS - DXB
Read more Emirates reviews

Flight left on time. Bags came quickly. Crew was nice. But internet never worked and the food was awful.

The entire crew was amazing. They went out of their way to make us enjoy a great travel experience.

We had to deboard using stairs. Why didnt you have the aero-bridge?

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.

Worst flight I ever had I payed for special seats with underpriced which I never recieved. I will like you to make sure that I am refunded my 134.00 dollars that I paid for the seats that I never received. I am looking forward for Kayak to look into this issue with underpriced because they took my money and never booked the seats for me with the airline.

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?

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

First time flying Emirates and business class. What a civilized way to travel, everything was wonderful organized and relaxing. Thank you for providing the best first impression!

It was very good experience on board to Sydney with SQ.

Everything was great keep up the good work 😁, can't ask for more.

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.

Food option Hindu veg to Hindu non veg request was unheard

Service excellent would chose Singapore airlines as my first choice

The old Plane had not been cleaned properly in a long time.

I got upgraded from economy to business, and the experience was outstanding

Boarding was over 3 hrs late and we didn’t land until almost 1:30am

I disliked the fact that they forced people to put up their seats during meal service

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.

Book Cheap Cairns Plane Tickets

Return flight deals

multi-stopMultiple Airlines
18885 kmJNB-CNS
multi-stopMultiple Airlines
18885 kmCNS-JNB
multi-stopMultiple Airlines
19398 kmCPT-CNS
multi-stopMultiple Airlines
19398 kmCNS-CPT

Search by stops

One-way flight deals

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

Search by stops

Everything you need to know for your flight to Cairns

Information on the airport you'll fly into in Cairns

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