$261 Find Cheap Flights from Cairns to South Island

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from Cairns to South Island departing on 30/8. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
1 adult
1 adult, Economy, 0 bags

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to South Island

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from Cairns to South Island, as well as popular online travel agencies
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from Cairns to South Island, as well as popular online travel agencies
Travellers love KAYAK
41,299,237 searches in the past 7 days on KAYAK

Save 16% or moreCompare multiple travel sites with one search.

Track pricesNot ready to book? Create a price alert for when prices drop.

Free to useThere are no hidden charges or fees.

Filter your dealsChoose cabin class, free Wi-Fi and more.

Flight Deals
Booking Insights
Flight Deals

Cheap Flights from Cairns to South Island

Cheapest return prices found by our users on KAYAK in the last 72 hours
Queenstown
Queenstown1 stop$733
Christchurch
Christchurchdirect$462
Dunedin
Dunedin1 stop$993
Nelson
Nelson2 stops$1,064
Queenstown
Queenstown1 stop$733
Christchurch
Christchurchdirect$462
Dunedin
Dunedin1 stop$993
Nelson
Nelson2 stops$1,064

Book Cheap Cairns to South Island Plane Tickets

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for return flights from Cairns to South Island that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent return flight deals from Cairns to South Island

Thu, 23 Jul - Mon, 27 Jul
Jetstar Logo
07:00 - 13:55
CNS
-
CHC
4h 55mdirect
Jetstar Logo
06:55 - 10:40
CHC
-
CNS
5h 45mdirect
$462Jetstar
Sun, 5 Jul - Fri, 24 Jul
Jetstar Logo
07:00 - 13:55
CNS
-
CHC
4h 55mdirect
Jetstar Logo
06:55 - 10:40
CHC
-
CNS
5h 45mdirect
$484Jetstar
Thu, 23 Jul - Mon, 27 Jul
Jetstar Logo
07:00 - 13:55
CNS
-
CHC
4h 55mdirect
Jetstar Logo
06:55 - 10:40
CHC
-
CNS
5h 45mdirect
$495Jetstar
Thu, 23 Jul - Mon, 27 Jul
Jetstar Logo
07:00 - 13:55
CNS
-
CHC
4h 55mdirect
Jetstar Logo
06:55 - 10:40
CHC
-
CNS
5h 45mdirect
$533Jetstar
Thu, 23 Jul - Mon, 27 Jul
Jetstar Logo
07:00 - 13:55
CNS
-
CHC
4h 55mdirect
Jetstar Logo
06:55 - 10:40
CHC
-
CNS
5h 45mdirect
$538Jetstar
Thu, 23 Jul - Mon, 27 Jul
Jetstar Logo
07:00 - 13:55
CNS
-
CHC
4h 55mdirect
Jetstar Logo
08:20 - 20:50
CHC
-
CNS
14h 30m
1 stop
$611Jetstar
Thu, 23 Jul - Mon, 27 Jul
Multiple Airlines Logo
06:00 - 00:40
CNS
-
CHC
16h 40m
1 stop
Multiple Airlines Logo
06:55 - 10:40
CHC
-
CNS
5h 45mdirect
$638Multiple Airlines
Mon, 13 Jul - Thu, 23 Jul
Virgin Australia Logo
21:00 - 16:45
CNS
-
ZQN
17h 45m
1 stop
Virgin Australia Logo
17:40 - 20:20
ZQN
-
CNS
28h 40m
1 stop
$733Virgin Australia
Sun, 30 Aug - Wed, 2 Sep
Virgin Australia Logo
11:50 - 15:40
CNS
-
ZQN
25h 50m
1 stop
Virgin Australia Logo
17:40 - 09:50
ZQN
-
CNS
18h 10m
1 stop
$806Virgin Australia
Sun, 30 Aug - Wed, 2 Sep
Virgin Australia Logo
11:50 - 15:40
CNS
-
ZQN
25h 50m
1 stop
Virgin Australia Logo
17:40 - 11:25
ZQN
-
CNS
19h 45m
2 stops
$826Virgin Australia
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for Cairns to South Island flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from Cairns to South Island to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly, and much more.

What is the cheapest Cairns to South Island flight route?

Data is based on round-trip flight searches on KAYAK over the past month.

The cheapest ticket to South Island from Cairns found in the last 72 hours was to Christchurch, at $372 return. The most popular route is from Cairns (CNS) to Christchurch (CHC), and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $372.

Can I save money by flying with a stopover from Cairns to South Island?

The average return price for all direct flights, flights with one stopover, and flights with two stopovers for the route found by users searching on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks.

No, with an average price for the route of $1,223, prices are generally cheapest when you fly direct.

What is the cheapest month to fly from Cairns to South Island?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for round-trip flights from Cairns to South Island, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from Cairns to South Island is June, when tickets cost $124 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are July and August, when the average cost of return tickets is $469 and $378 respectively.

Good to know

Low seasonJuly
Cheapest flight$261
Best time to beat the crowds but there is an average 15% increase in price.
Most popular time to fly (20% more expensive on average)
Flight from Cairns to Christchurch

FAQs - booking South Island flights

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from Cairns to South Island?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from Cairns to South Island.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from Cairns to South Island?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from Cairns to South Island is likely to change within 7 days, so travellers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from Cairns to South Island?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional return ticket. You could then fly from Cairns to South Island with an airline and back with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from Cairns to South Island?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying from Cairns to South Island up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

Top tips for finding cheap flights to South Island

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found tickets from Cairns to the following destinations at these prices or less: Christchurch $301 one-way - $412 round-trip

Reviews of the top airlines flying from Cairns to South Island

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying from Cairns to South Island. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from Cairns to South Island? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
7.6
Virgin AustraliaOverall score based on 462 reviews
6.4Entertainment
8.2Crew
7.5Comfort
7.7Boarding
6.4Food
Airline reviews

Flight cancelled due to broken seat. $8 refreshment voucher barely bought a coffee. 3 hours to next flight. Also then delayed.

4.0 OkayChristopher, June 2026
CBR - MEL
Read more Virgin Australia reviews

Flight cancelled due to broken seat. $8 refreshment voucher barely bought a coffee. 3 hours to next flight. Also then delayed.

There were no food or entertainment on this short flight. Friendly staff even before getting on the flight. The seats were snug but it was quick flight

Good flight. On time. No problems. Plane was clean. Service was as you would expect. However nothing special, just a good flight.

Very friendly staff. No food service and no entertainment. Only 1hr 20min flight

High fees for excess checked baggage and somehow ridiculous rules for carry on bags.

Flight was late, food and drink an extra charge, my carry on is five rows behind me, and the seats are too narrow. Don’t ask me to be happy about it

I bought flights in August and there wasn’t a flight in the system

Our 6.30am flight was boarded then cancelled to fly at 10.55am . We were flying to Brisbane to attend a funeral at 12 noon an hour away . This means missing the funeral due to unreliability of Virgin . Unimpressed !!

It was with Link Airways and the Saab 340 jet was noisy and little comfort.

They didn’t sent my luggage I got it 24 hours later

The Ryanair of Australia. Not impressed. Forced me to gate check my bag as it was over their weight limit. Charged me $125 for the privilege. Then said plane hold was locked and it would have to go out in the next flight, which was the following day. Explained that I was on a cruise the next day and the plane would not arrive until after the ship left, and that it would be impossible to catch up with the cruise at any point. Lady at the gate unimpressed. So to sum up they were ready to charge me $125 to lose a bag. Finally got it resolved by appealing to management, but the whole episode was not good for the blood pressure. The gate lady said they followed the Ryanair business model which means first time passengers get penalized for doing things that other airlines routinely allow.

Delayed 50 mins. Check in was excellent, boarding was good, everything else was OK and perfectly acceptable for a budget airline. Price was excellent. I noticed this airline had two other flights to our destination cancelled so not very reliable.

Horrible. The people that get this flights are very sick, dangerous and unhygienic

Jane at Sydney International airport check in was amazing. She set up the whole experience to be a positive one.

The smells on this plane were disgusting. So many sweaty and unhygienic people i couldn't stand it. I dream of being anywhere else in the world when I am on a JetStar flight they suck.

One of the better flights I’ve had w Jetstar. Smooth boarding, early take off, on time landing, very courteous crew, clean plane.

local frequent travellers know that Jetstar’s flights between MEL and LST are turnaround flights so those in the morning tend to run on time and become delayed increasingly through the day. We observed how the staff at check in and boarding try to assist, guide and facilitate travellers - they were courteous, efficient, amiable while enforcing Jetstar’s baggage requirements. They try to speed up boarding by having passengers board from both front and back. We would take Jetstar again.

The issue was a 4 hour delay to takeoff with very sketchy information provided about the available of the flights delay. Passengers were not informed of gate changes and how long the delay might be. It ended with a late night 2 hour drive to our home which was not ideal for elderly people.

Flight was fine with boarding starting a few minutes early. Not a fan of the crew pushing political messaging regarding indigenous naming of Brisbane city… really pushed it like I haven’t heard on Jetstar before.

The flight ticket were not reimbursed on Jan 22nd from Auckland to Wellington. Very Very dissatisfied.Please reimburse the ticket of my onward travel.

Everything you need to know for your flight to South Island

Information on your arrival and departure airports