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The raw figures for May looked soft. Total passenger movements through Cairns Airport came in at 376,582, down 2.8 per cent on May last year. But the headline does the underlying trend a disservice. Our seasonally adjusted and Trend work tells a more encouraging story: the Conus Trend for total passengers rose 0.6 per cent in the month to 410,095, the second consecutive monthly gain, and the annual decline has narrowed to just 0.6 per cent, from 1.3 per cent as recently as March. The Trend bottomed early in 2026 and is now climbing back.
The recovery is being driven almost entirely by international travel. The Trend for international passengers lifted to 59,799 in May, up 4.3 per cent on a year ago, and the momentum is building, with the international Trend up around 11 per cent since December. After a long, slow rebuild, the international side of the operation is now doing the heavy lifting.
Domestic travel remains the drag. The domestic passenger Trend eased to 330,100, down 1.8 per cent on a year ago, and has been drifting lower since peaking last September. With domestic passengers making up roughly four in five movements through Cairns, that softness is enough to hold the total Trend’s annual change in negative territory even as international surges.
We are proud to have CBC Staff Selection as supporters of the Conus/CBC Staff Selection Trend Employment and Jobseeker data series