Live flights over Cairns International Airport (CNS)
From 30 October to 5 November 2026 the FlyItalyADSB network saw 56 departures and 74 arrivals at Cairns International Airport, 19 movements a day on average. The most frequent connections are Brisbane (BNE), Townsville (TSV) and Sydney (SYD). The airline seen most often is QantasLink.
Airport data
- IATA code
- CNS
- ICAO code
- YBCS
- City
- Cairns
- Region
- Queensland
- Country
- Australia
- Elevation
- 3 m (10 ft)
- Coordinates
- -16.87892, 145.74948
What you can track here
Every aircraft passing within roughly 80 km of Cairns International Airport that the network receives appears on the FlyItalyADSB live map: airliners on approach and departure, business and general aviation, and — where MLAT reaches — aircraft without full ADS-B. Nothing is filtered out; how much of the area is covered depends on the community's receivers near Cairns.
Seen by the network
30 October – 5 November 2026
Movements per day
Show as a table
| Day | Departures | Arrivals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sat 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sun 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mon 2 | 9 | 5 | 14 |
| Tue 3 | 9 | 15 | 24 |
| Wed 4 | 19 | 27 | 46 |
| Thu 5 | 19 | 27 | 46 |
Connections
airline flights both ways, with departure and arrival both seen
- Brisbane BNE 26 flights
- Townsville TSV 16 flights
- Sydney SYD 12 flights
- Melbourne MEL 9 flights
- Darwin DRW 2 flights
- Osaka KIX Japan 1 flights
- Mackay MKY 1 flights
- Proserpine PPP 1 flights
Airlines
- QantasLinkQLK 28
- Jetstar AirwaysJST 21
- Virgin AustraliaVOZ 16
- Skytrans AirlinesSKP 9
- Regional ExpressRXA 7
- HNDHND 5
- National Jet ExpressJTE 4
- QantasQFA 4
- Team Global ExpressTFX 3
- Alliance AirlinesUTY 3
Aircraft
- Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 DH8D 21
- Airbus A320 A320 16
- Embraer E190 E190 16
- Boeing 737-800 B738 12
- DH8A 10
- C208 8
- SF34 7
- Airbus A321 A321 5
- B350 5
- Boeing 737 MAX 8 B38M 5
How we count: a flight is a departure here when the network first sees it low near the airport (on the ground, or climbing away from it), an arrival when it last sees it low on approach. Where receivers don't reach low altitude the numbers stay below the real traffic. Connections and airlines come only from airline flights.
This data in your app
Every aircraft within 80 km of Cairns International Airport, as JSON, with a free key that also allows commercial use:
curl -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
https://api.flyitalyadsb.com/v2/lat/-16.87892/lon/145.74948/dist/80Or ask Claude, with the FlyItalyADSB connector: “which aircraft are near Cairns right now?”
Frequently asked questions
How can I see live flights over Cairns International Airport? +
Open the FlyItalyADSB live map centred on Cairns: it shows every aircraft picked up via ADS-B and MLAT within about 80 km of CNS, refreshed every few seconds.
Which airlines fly from Cairns International Airport? +
Among the flights our network saw (30 October – 5 November 2026), the most frequent airlines were QantasLink, Jetstar Airways, Virgin Australia, Skytrans Airlines and Regional Express.
What are the main connections from Cairns International Airport? +
The connections with the most flights seen (30 October – 5 November 2026), both ways: Brisbane (BNE, 26), Townsville (TSV, 16), Sydney (SYD, 12), Melbourne (MEL, 9) and Darwin (DRW, 2). Only flights whose departure and arrival the network both saw are counted.
Does FlyItalyADSB also track military aircraft around Cairns? +
Yes. Thanks to multilateration (MLAT) the network reconstructs the position of aircraft without full ADS-B too, including military and state flights, whenever they are received by feeders in the area. Nothing is filtered out.
What are the codes for Cairns International Airport? +
Cairns International Airport has IATA code CNS and ICAO code YBCS. It lies in Queensland, Australia, at coordinates -16.87892, 145.74948.
Is the flight data free and open? +
Yes. The live map and the Free API plan cost nothing, and the data is published under the open CC BY-SA 4.0 licence; paid API plans for higher volumes help cover the infrastructure costs.
Nearby airports
All airports →Improve coverage over Cairns
Coverage quality depends on the density of receivers. With a Raspberry Pi and an RTL-SDR antenna you can help track flights over Queensland, Australia.