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Cairns Airport Information
General Airport Information Cairns Airport is an international and domestic airport located 7 kilometres north of central Cairns. With approximately 4.1 million passengers in the year to 30 June 2013, this airport is the seventh busiest in Australia. It was previously managed by the Cairns Port Authority but was sold to a private company, North Queensland Airports Group, in 2008. Both the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and the State Emergency Service use Cairns Airport as a base. There are direct flights from Cairns Airport to 20 international locations (such as Auckland, Tokyo, Hong Kong and more) and 44 destinations within Australia, including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Ayers Rock and all the other major cities and tourist spots. Importantly, it is also the gateway to key Australian tourist destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforests of North Queensland. History Cairns Airport's history begins in 1928 where Tom McDonald used to fly his de Havilland Gypsy Moth off the sand ridge next to the area where the airport is currently situated. In 1936 the Cairns City Council bought land and built three runways on it. The airport was subsequently purchased by the Australian government for use by the Royal Australian Air Force and in 1943 the runway was sealed. During the 1970s, the number of services increased so that there were now regular flights to most Australian capital cities and international flights to Papua New Guinea. There were further developments and expansions during the 1980s and 1990s and the Domestic Terminal redevelopment was completed and opened in 2010.
