AirportMiles

Cairns (CNS) – Sydney (SYD)

Flights on GoogleSkyscanner
Distance, flight time and the airlines that fly it, from open data.
Distance
1,967 km
1,222 mi · 1,062 nm
Flight time
3 h 10 min
Estimate from distance
Time difference
1 h / none
January / July
CO2 per passenger
248 kg
One way, economy, incl. RF (147 kg CO2 only)
Passengers / year
916,051
May 2025 – Apr 2026 · −0.2%
Flights / week
108
Both directions, average
Seats filled
88%
1,044,025 seats a year
Airlines nonstop
—
Not named in this source

Traffic: BITRE (Australia), domestic airline activity by city pair, May 2025 – Apr 2026. Distance: WGS-84 ellipsoid. CO2: UK DESNZ 2026 factors. Sources

Great circle from CNS to SYDCNSSYD
Shortest path over the earth's surface (great circle). Real flights bend around weather, winds and airspace.

The way there

Heading from CNS
165°
Heading from SYD
343°
Halfway point
-25.44, 148.27
Great-circle km
1,974 km (sphere, for EU261)
Clocks
1 h in January, none in July

The estimate for a route without real times is 3 h 10 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.

Passengers per month, both directions (May 2025 – Apr 2026)Busiest: July 2025: 95,284 passengers
050K100KMayJunJul95.3KAugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarApr
Show as a table
Month Passengers
May 202568,746
Jun 202573,296
Jul 202595,284
Aug 202588,464
Sep 202581,540
Oct 202587,774
Nov 202570,868
Dec 202579,651
Jan 202677,540
Feb 202655,630
Mar 202662,640
Apr 202674,618
Flights per month, both directions (May 2025 – Apr 2026)Busiest: July 2025: 557 flights
0200400600MayJunJul557AugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarApr
Show as a table
Month Flights
May 2025410
Jun 2025445
Jul 2025557
Aug 2025497
Sep 2025496
Oct 2025511
Nov 2025428
Dec 2025511
Jan 2026520
Feb 2026356
Mar 2026418
Apr 2026483

Delay compensation (EU261 / UK261)

Measured by great-circle distance: 1,974 km.

Neither EU261 nor UK261 covers this route: it neither starts nor ends in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK. Other countries have their own rules (for example Canada's APPR or Brazil's ANAC rules).

Also owed for a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice or denied boarding. Not owed for extraordinary circumstances. On a connection, the distance to the final destination counts. From 23 October 2027 the EU's Regulation 2026/2202 applies; it keeps these amounts (what changes in 2027). Information, not legal advice.

More routes from CNS

Route Distance Passengers / year
CNS → BNE1,389 km 1,305,346
CNS → MEL2,306 km 858,728
CNS → KIX5,786 km 123,814
CNS → SIN5,007 km 104,280
CNS → DPS3,435 km 75,750
CNS → POM838 km 42,783
CNS → CHC3,883 km 41,152
CNS → AKL3,619 km 34,536
CNS → NAN3,366 km 27,720
CNS → HKG5,552 km 14,051

More routes from SYD

Route Distance Passengers / year
SYD → MEL706 km 8,091,178
SYD → BNE751 km 4,431,416
SYD → OOL678 km 2,609,754
SYD → ADL1,166 km 1,900,844
SYD → SIN6,288 km 1,758,167
SYD → PER3,284 km 1,742,359
SYD → AKL2,164 km 1,321,410
SYD → HKG7,372 km 1,065,358
SYD → DPS4,620 km 846,035
SYD → HBA1,037 km 841,310

Questions

Cairns (CNS) and Sydney (SYD) are 1,967 km (1,222 miles, 1,062 nautical miles) apart, measured along the shortest path over the earth's surface.