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 8:30am 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.
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All Cairns CBD areas, Cairns Esplanade, Lake Street accommodation is OK.

The shaded area below is the eligible area for our Cairns City pick up or drop off service from the airport. Our service is available for $20 per group (not per person) for our passengers who are transferring from Port Douglas to Cairns Accommodation, or vice versa. This service is available during standard hours 6am to 7pm daily. 

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 transfer 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 $280 one way for 1-5 passengers and are delivered as private transfer only. For 6-13 passengers the cost is $360.
• Flight departures from Cairns before 8:30am require you to leave Port Douglas before 6am and cost is $280 one way for 1-5 passengers, and $360 for 6-13 passengers. 
• Book after hours arrival or departure

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.

What a fantastic idea and sure to help a number of businesses up here in Port Douglas and Cairns. 

We'd like our passengers to know that as much as we would like to participate in the program, the Cairns Holiday Dollars program from 15 March to 15 June 2021 specifically excludes airport shuttle services.

The exclusion is because airport shuttle services between Cairns and Port Douglas do not have a 'lead tourism product' directly related to our transport service.

NO WORRIES! We can still transport you to and from Port Douglas, and you can spend your Cairns Holiday Dollars with plenty of businesses in Port Douglas like Quicksilver, Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, many of the Daintree and Cape Tribulation Tours or perhaps the Kuranda Skyrail and train.

​Happy holidaying :)