Connecting Cairns to the world
WE want passengers to arrive excited and depart delighted.
As the gateway to the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics, Cairns Airport sees over 5.2 million passenger movements each year, making us the seventh busiest airport in Australia.
Every dollar Cairns Airport invests has a flow-on effect to the Far North’s economy and that’s why we’re investing $55 million in our T2 domestic terminal upgrade to provide a worldclass facility, for each and every one of the six million passengers the airport expects to welcome by 2027.
Our T2 terminal upgrade will be complete by September and has been designed to really connect passengers with all the Tropical North has to offer.
As part of our upgrade we’ve curated the essence of the Far North, with everything from local brews to indigenous artworks.
The passenger experience is at the heart of everything we do and we want our passengers to arrive excited and depart delighted.
The feedback on the terminal upgrade to date has been incredibly positive and we’re confident this upgrade will prepare our domestic terminal for the next decade.
Cairns Airport is committed to supporting, connecting and growing the community we serve. We’re constantly working to develop more choice, more destinations and more airlines. We offer direct connections to regions with a total of 90 million people.
Last year SilkAir increased to daily flights to Singapore. This year SilkAir will change into Singapore Airlines and have a consistent daily schedule in to Singapore’s Changi Airport, one of the world’s great aviation hubs. From there, there are connections to a myriad of European and Asian cities.
Jetstar has served Cairns for many years, with flights to Japan and Bali as well as their domestic networks.
Japanese holiday-makers and European holiday-makers come in on those flights and locals use them for weekend getaways to Bali and ski trips to Japan.
Frequency and scheduling are also key to connectivity. Jetstar’s daytime flights to Bali are a great example of how small schedule changes can improve connectivity for passengers.
Air Niugini is the airport’s longestserving carrier. Their connections to Papua New Guinea and also Hong Kong, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and destinations across Asia and the Pacific, via their Port Moresby hub are an important asset to our region.
We encourage locals who are heading overseas to check for direct flights and support the international flights we have in Cairns.
That has the additional benefit of more direct routes, reducing the carbon emissions from our travel.
We’re continuing to invest heavily in aviation development and we’re constantly talking to many international airlines to highlight the region’s attractions.
Some of the new routes we’re exploring include North America, Korea, Taipei, Malaysia, the Middle East, India, Vietnam and the Philippines.
For airlines to establish new routes and come here they need to be both commercially viable and sustainable.
Freight is an important part of that sustainability and the development and expansion of routes and services.
The announcement of the new Regional Export Distribution Centre by the State Government late last year represents a great opportunity for the many primary producers across our region.
Our airport is unique as we’re nestled between two World Heritage listed assets and it’s important to us that we do everything we can to preserve and care for this magnificent environment.
We partner with a number of community organisations like Parley and the Yirrganydji indigenous land and sea rangers to clean up and care for our airport.
Tourism provides $3.2 billion to the local economy.
Together with TTNQ, Tourism Events Queensland and Tourism Australia, we are charging ahead to optimise the region’s tourism future.
The enormous opportunity that offers for us all, remains our driving force.
Norris Carter is Cairns Airport chief executive.
CAIRNS AIRPORT IS COMMITTED TO SUPPORTING, CONNECTING AND GROWING THE COMMUNITY WE SERVE. WE’RE CONSTANTLY WORKING TO DEVELOP MORE CHOICE …