Passenger numbers returned to Cairns Airport with a bang over the Easter long weekend with the four day period from Friday to Monday matching those from Easter 2019.
Garry Porter, Cairns Airport Chief Operating Officer said; “52,000 passengers passed through the airport exceeding the same period of 2018 and matching 2019. What makes this figure more impressive is that pre pandemic we would have seen a good number of international visitors flying through our domestic terminal from Sydney and Melbourne, but this year that figure would have been minimal with the slow recovery of international tourism. So, we really are still seeing Australians holidaying at home”
While the Easter holiday dates vary year by year, they more often coincide with the Queensland school holidays as they have this year, which helps to drive visitation to the region at a time when temperatures are cooling down south.
“Twelve months ago, we had really strong passenger numbers on the books for Easter, however border restrictions meant a majority were unable to travel which was disappointing, but to put things into perspective in 2020 we had just 533 passengers use the airport during the whole of the Easter week”, added Garry.
Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney provide the bulk of passenger traffic; however, Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Newcastle, and Canberra all saw a boost in recent numbers as confidence in travel continues to grow.
As the region heads towards its winter peak around June and July, it is hoped that the strong demand from the domestic market will continue to grow and will be complemented by the gradual return of international visitors from Europe, North America, New Zealand, and South East Asia in the coming months as direct flights return.
- Singapore Airlines flights to/from Singapore commenced 3x per week at the end of March and will increase to 5x per week at the end of May
- Jetstar flights to/from Bali are due to commence early May
- Air New Zealand flights to/from Auckland are due to commence 3x per week from early July
- Jetstar flights to/from Japan are due to commence mid-July (subject to Japanese quarantine restrictions)
All airline schedules are subject to change.