Cairns Airport

Domestic terminal undergoing major renovations/additions. Long walk from gate through building site and then quite a way outside to taxi upon arrival. All ok if you are up to it but could be difficult for less mobile or with lots of baggage/children. Also ok if not pouring with rain. On departure taxi drops off and you have to cross a road without cover to get into terminal all ok if weather ok but you could get soaked if raining hard as is normal at this time of year. Was selected for hand baggage and clothing swab for explosives. Security staff nice and friendly.

Flew into Cairns as an international passenger from Darwin - very easy airport and the nicest welcome we have had on our trips to Oz. At 8 am there were adequate staff on passport and security control our baggage arrived quickly and checking was done nicely and efficiently with apologies for using us as a training example to a new member of staff. We got a taxi downtown the only hicup was that the sign telling you to phone from the taxi pickup point (if there are none there) was missing so we waited 15 mins before someone came over to tell us to phone.

Recently flew in and out of this airport on an international charter flight. I've been to Australia before and it is one of my favorite destinations in the world. However customs personnel upon arrival were unbelievably rude. You are not allowed to bring in food and I never carry food with me. However the sniffer dog indicated that I had food in my backpack. The customs official treated me like a criminal. After a thorough search of my backpack all he could find were cough drops. He turned on his heel and walked away with his dog and not another word. No apology of any kind. This is probably the rudest arrival I have ever experienced anywhere in the world and I travel quite a bit.

Used the Cairns domestic terminal recently. The arrivals area and baggage claim is a dump but the ticketing/check-in area and the departures area isn't bad. There's not much in the way of shopping or restaurants if you have time to kill and the seating areas are rather limited. The Qantas lounge is pretty decent and best of all it's a very short walk (just a couple of hundred feet) from the baggage claim to the taxi stand and about the same from the passenger drop-off area to the terminal entrance on arrival - though this makes the A$4 baggage cart rental fee a big rip-off. Taxis are also reasonably priced to the city despite the long distance.

Flew in and out of Cairns International recently and found the airport a breeze. Only a handful of carriers use the international terminal. Airside has all the usual stores duty free and a centre cafe. They even have a chocolate store. Great lounges and plenty of space with none of the crowds of other gateways airports to Australia. Would recommend to anyone arriving or leaving Australia.

Cairns airport is a little run down but still functional. Only problem is the lack of a decent coffee and meal at the domestic airport! Hungry Jacks is always a crowd pleaser but when you need a good coffee at 5:00am its just not possible!

I've only used the domestic portion (I fly via SYD) and while it is small and a bit run-down it's not a bad airport. In addition to the too-tiny baggage carousel the Virgin Blue check-in area needs to be rearranged a bit. The queue for computerized check-in became entangled in the queue for the baggage drop. The computerized check-in area needs to be moved further away. I also appreciated the centralized booking desk for the shuttles to town. On my last trip there I liked the convenience of on-site car rental and return but as with any Australian airport you pay an extra tax on the car that you wouldn't if you rented the car in town.

The facilities at Cairns airport aren't all that bad; however arriving in Cairns on Jetstar or Virgin is a chore as both carriers use the same tiny belt in their dated arrivals area. Taxis are fairly quick to come through though. Departing is okay although a huge lineup at security meant it wasn't as efficient as it could have been. The real problem with the terminal is the Jetstar gates. People begin lining up well before they are even called and the small size of the terminal does not allow enough space for this. Luckily Jetstar are introducing allocated seating (finally) which will solve this problem at the start of November.

I was fairly impressed by the range of retail stores available for international transit passengers at Cairns airport - mainly tropical touristy items but that reflects the city. Not a great range of eating places a hamburger bar sushi and Japanese snacks and a cafe with cakes and slices for sale. All shops and restaurants were open when we arrived at 6:30am. The airport incuding the bathrooms appeared pretty clean. Decent views of the runway from the transit area. All in all a fairly pleasant place to stop for a short time.

Arrived at CNS airport on a Qantas flight from Brisbane and departed on an Australian Airlines flight to Singapore 4 hours later. The domestic and international terminals are linked by a covered and paved walkway and was a short and comfortable walk despite the heat (middle of the day on 26 December). Our luggage was tagged to SIN when we departed BNE so we didn't have to worry about lugging bags between terminals. CNS is not a big airport and doesn't have loads of retail outlets or much choice for food but the staff are friendly the terminal is modern and fresh the beer at the bar is cold and we spent the four hours comfortably. We went on to deal with the masses in SIN LHR AMS BKK and SYD airports and concluded that the smaller and more relaxed airport at CNS was the better of our experiences.