It has just been announced that Cairns and Yarrabah will go into a 3 day lockdown starting at 4pm on Sunday 8 August 2021.

**Update 12 August. Lockdown is over. Masks mandatory for 11 days until 22 August, however this does not apply to Port Douglas. So once you arrive in Port Douglas, you are free from Cairns restrictions.**

The following procedures will be in place effective immediately from 10:30am on Sunday 8 August 2021, and will continue as long as the lockdown applies to Cairns.

1. There will be no pick ups from, or drop offs to, Cairns accommodation or any business or accommodation in the Cairns area. Any existing bookings will be contacted and refunded. No new bookings will be accepted for Cairns accommodation pick up and drop off during the lockdown period.
2. Departures from Port Douglas to Cairns Airport will continue, with a Port Douglas based driver dropping off at Cairns Airport and then return directly to Port Douglas.

The following procedures will be in place effective from 4pm on Sunday 8 August 2021, and will continue as long as the lockdown applies to Cairns.

1. Arrivals into Cairns. Due to all states being closed to Queensland there are very few arrivals into Cairns. We anticipate we will again use Port Douglas based drivers to collect and return directly to Port Douglas.
2. Pick ups from the airport will only be accepted for passengers from flights that have just arrived. Passengers already in Cairns who make their way to Cairns Airport seeking transfer to Port Douglas will not be transferred. People currently staying in Cairns must abide by the  Queensland Health Directive and lockdown procedures.

Any further updates will be made here. Thank you for your understanding. These measures are in place to protect our drivers, our passengers and our community of Far North Queensland.

On 27 July 2021 CairnsAirportShuttle.net commenced a regular donation of 5 driving lessons, with the first 5 driving lesson gift certificates given to Ashleigh at the Mossman Youth Centre (pictured below). The Mossman Youth Centre offers support services to approx: 60 young people from 8-16 years.

On 3 September 2021 we also gave 5 gift certificates to another local organisation in Mossman.

Mossman is 15 minutes north of Port Douglas. 

These gift certificates help one young person per month get professional driving lessons provided by Steve from the Port Douglas/ Mossman Driving School.  Driving lessons help to empower our youth, and opens up opportunities for employment.

We commenced issuing 100% credit vouchers in March 2020 and now after redelivering on many credit vouchers we outline below the process to rebook your transfers with your 100% credits.

We have found the majority of bookings using our 100% credit travel vouchers simply wish to advise new travel dates, new flight numbers and flight times with the majority of passengers, accommodation, contact details etc remaining the same.

Importantly this process maintains your existing booking reference.

This process avoids you needing to make a completely new booking and avoids you and us dealing with old and new booking references. This can become confusing when old emails are forwarded and combined with new booking numbers. 

To rebook new transfers with your 100% credit voucher:

1. Simply email us (use any email address you have for us) with your previous booking reference in the subject line.
2. Advise us your new travel dates, new flight numbers and new flight times.
3. Advise us any other details that have changed.
4. We will book your new travel dates, new flight numbers and new flight times.
5. We will confirm your new booking by email.
6. Done!

To see more details about being issued a 100% credit travel voucher see our page here

Every year the Cairns IRONMAN closes the entire highway from about 5.30am to 5.30pm. 

This year the Cairns IRONMAN closes the highway on 6 June 2021.

If you are flying out from Cairns on 6 June 2021 this is particularly important for you, because you cannot travel down the Captain Cook Highway between 5:30am and 5:30pm.

Every year we suggest to travellers either stay in Port until the day after, or go to Cairns the day before. 

Our travel options on 6 June 2021 are:

• Leave Port Douglas at 5:00am - we are taking bookings for this slot which is good for AM flight departures from Cairns, and will be running several buses down the highway, or
• Leave Port Douglas once the highway reopens after 5:30pm.
• Arrivals into Cairns will need to wait until the highway reopens. We have been proactively alerting bookings where possible, particularly those arrivals in the morning. As recently as yesterday  we alerted someone who had booked with their accommodation to leave Port Douglas on 6 June, however they were unaware of the closure.
• We have previously offered transfers on the inland highway via Mareeba and Kuranda, however by the Ironman organiser's own estimation travellers should allow 3.5 to 4 hours to get from Port Douglas, out through local road closures, and down to Cairns.  We will not offer that service this year. It is a long drive, and one which doubles the fuel and driver costs of the transfer.

We know there is a widespread lack of information about this significant disruption. We have recently swapped emails with Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, and annually we provide feedback to the Port Douglas Chamber of Commerce via business feedback surveys about getting this information out, but to no avail. We have also contacted the organisers of Ironman in 2021 about the transport options they are promoting only to discover they are advising travellers that all shuttles will be using the inland highway when this is not the case. So we annually try to do our best and advise travellers who have booked accommodation and tours in Port Douglas, or are expecting to be able to travel between Cairns and Port Douglas on Ironman day, to please make other arrangements.

We understand Quicksilver is running a vessel transfer on 6 June 2021:

Depart Port Douglas 6:45am 2.00pm
Arrive Cairns 8:30am 3.45pm

Depart Cairns 8:45am 4.15pm
Arrive Port Douglas 10:30am 5.45pm

Reservations can only be made by phone or email:
Phone:(07) 4044 9944
​Email: centralres@greatadventures.com.au

My flight's been delayed! How will you pick us up?
We actively monitor flights for both early and late arrivals.

If your standard hours flight is delayed into our after hours time 7pm until 6am, we can still pick you up however there will be an after hours adjustment for private transfer rates.  We are readily able to move you to another shuttle within standard hours 6am to 7pm, but flights that arrive 3-4-5-6 hours late (eg 5pm flight lands at 11pm) have huge cost impacts for our drivers and shuttles.

We ask that you understand that flight delays that extend into the evening beyond 7pm are beyond our control, and we cannot offer standard hour services rates during 7pm to 6am.

If you do expect significant delays, it is important that you please contact our office on 0481 755 740 between 8am and 5pm or the direct number for your shuttle to find out what options you have, and we can advise options for you. We will do the same and try and contact you. It is important we make contact before you arrive many hours late because midnight pick ups are not an automatic option. So please use your time while being delayed leaving Sydney or Melbourne and contact us so we can go through your options.

WE OFFER TWO OPTIONS: 

Option 1: Upgrade to after hours service delivered as a private transfer.

• Currently 1-5 pax after hours is $230 one way to Port Douglas, and
  
• 6-13 pax is $345 one way to Port Douglas.
  
• We will credit your entire standard hours transfer value to your after hours transfer.

Option 2: We will provide you 100% refund.

​Note this will be made back to the credit card you paid with or by online banking. Either way the refund is not instant as credit card refunds made take 3-4 business days to reappear on your card. That is due to the card issuer not Cairns Port Douglas Shuttle. If refund by online banking we need your BSB and account details and that will either be instant if OSKO payment (depending on your bank and you account settings) or 1 business day. We thank you for your understanding.
​

Our Cairns City shuttle service from the airport is available for a flat rate of $20 per group (not per person) for our passengers who are transferring from Port Douglas to Cairns Accommodation, or vice versa, and is available during standard hours 6am to 7pm daily. 

The map below shows the eligible boundaries for this service:

• North to South boundary: Cairns Airport at the north to Spence Street at the South, and does include accommodation like Pullman Reef Hotel Casino, Cairns Hilton and Park Regis City Quays
• West to East boundary: All along Cairns Esplanade at the East  to McLeod Street at the West, and does include Cairns Central Shopping centre, Rusty's Markets and Gilligan's Cairns on Grafton Street.
• Areas unavailable: Accommodation or pick-ups outside this map are Woree, Manunda, White Rock, Earlville and Mooroobool. Passengers looking for transfers from these excluded areas are advised to transit themselves to the airport for our direct service to Port Douglas (and no $20 per group fee), or transit to a location within the boundary for pick up (which will include the $20 per group fee). 
• Thank you for your understanding and assistance to keep our Cairns to Port Douglas direct service flowing fast and efficiently on our main transfers route.
• Please use the the booking forms in the menu above to make any booking.

Fantastic to see that the latest Brisbane lockdown is over and that all our friends down south can visit us in Port Douglas!

Demand for shuttles has been very strong throughout March 2021 and all our local shuttles, accommodation and hospitality businesses are really enjoying being open and providing service to visitors to FNQ.

Unfortunately we were unable to help about 10 bookings made late yesterday on 31 March who were booking for arrival today 1 April.  Thankfully we were able to advise almost everyone before they landed.

This is a big heads up: please book ahead!

Your earliest booking helps us allocate shuttles and drivers over Easter and beyond as we move into the traditional peak season during the wonderful winters we have up here in Cairns and Port Douglas. By booking ahead you can secure seats and know that when you arrive there is a shuttle ready and waiting to take you to Port Douglas.

We look forward to providing your transfers between Cairns Airport and Port Douglas

Shuttle transfers before 6am and after 7pm related to these flights cost extra:  

Late night arrivals flights after 7pm into Cairns Airport include:

• Qantas QF718, QF2358, and
• JetStar JQ938, JQ940, JQ942, JQ948, and 
• Virgin VA793, VA799

Early departure flights before 8:30am out of Cairns Airport include:

• Qantas QF2355, and
• Jetstar JQ929, JQ953 and JQ967, and 
• Virgin Australia VA770 leaving Cairns at 6:00am. 

This blog post is a a heads up to cross check possible savings on late and early flights against extra transfer costs

Increased transport costs if transfer commences before 6am or after 7pm

Our shuttle service offers standard hours Cairns to Port Douglas transfers at great rates all day from 6am to 7pm daily, but the cost rises for transfers commenced before 6am and after 7pm. This is because we pay our drivers a premium rate for servicing early departures and late arrivals.  

Availability is also less before 6am and after 7pm as there are less shuttles available outside standard hours. This means it is harder to arrange seats in a shared bus after hours. Decreased after hours demand from less plane arrivals,  possibly hours apart, result in passengers being at the airport for extended times waiting for a shuttle 'to fill'. This is what Sun Palm Transport used to do at Cairns Airport, but Sun Palm Transport ultimately collapsed in part because it was inefficient to maintain buses on standby for extended hours after 7pm.

How much for after hours transfers between Cairns Airport and Port Douglas?

• Flight arrivals into Cairns after 7pm cost $230 one way for 1-5 passengers and are delivered as private transfer only. For 6-13 passengers the cost is $345.
• Flight departures from Cairns before 8:30am require you to leave Port Douglas before 6am and cost is usually $180 one way for 1-5 passengers, and $285 for 6-13 passengers. 
• Book after hours arrival or departure - use our private transfer form and add $50 to the transfer

If travelling as a family group or with a group of friends this usually has minimal impact on your cost. However, if you are travelling by yourself or just as a couple please consider extra cost and reduced availability if travelling on late or early flights.

One last thing to consider is your holiday! If you don't need or want to get up at 3am on your last day of your holiday, why do it? Come to Port Douglas, relax in style, and travel during the day which is a more relaxing way to enjoy your Far North Queensland Holiday in Cairns and Port Douglas.