Cairns international travel: Jetstar resumes flights to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan

Flights to a favourite international destination have restarted after nearly two-and-a-half years while domestic airfares have shot up as high as 90 per cent between May and June. See how many could be coming.

FLIGHTS to a favourite international destination have restarted after nearly two-and-a-half years while domestic airfares have shot up as high as 90 per cent between May and June.

Direct flights between Japan and Cairns are expected eight times per week all year round from today.

Cairns Airport chief operating officer Garry Porter said FNQ was a highly sought after destination for visitors from Japan.

“The Japanese market is incredibly important to our region, and the resumption of these Jetstar services is symbolic of how far our aviation and tourism industries have progressed since our Covid recovery phase began,” he said.

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“During the pandemic, Cairns Airport and our industry partners maintained strong relationships with both airlines and international destinations, and we are now seeing the flow-on benefits from those efforts.”

Five flights per week will be between Cairns and Narita International Airport (Tokyo) and a further three flights from Kansai International Airport (Osaka) will start from next week.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen said the Japanese market had delivered 111,000 visitors in the year before the pandemic.

“Our two World Heritage areas, Indigenous culture and native animals are major drawcards for the Japanese who stay an average of 5.6 nights and spend $1286 per person,” he said.

Cairns Airport chief operating officer Garry Porter and Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen. Picture: Brendan Radke

While restrictions remain for independent tourists travelling from Australia to Japan, Japanese citizens can travel freely.

Australians can only travel around Japan in a tour group.

“Jetstar is the first Australian carrier to relaunch flights between Australia and Japan, and we’re already seeing a lot of pent-up demand from Japanese travellers eager to visit Australia,” Jetstar Group CEO Gareth Evans said.

Some overseas holiday destinations are now much cheaper than regional Australian centres.

Travel deals website Kayak has revealed Cairns residents wanting to fly to Brisbane were facing fares 90 per cent higher than what they were in May.

Originally published as Cairns international travel: Jetstar resumes flights to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan