Canberra Airport (CBR) serves as the capital city's primary air gateway, receiving essential connections from other major Australian cities. While its network is smaller and more focused than that of Sydney or Melbourne, strong competition on key business routes from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane ensures that domestic fares into Canberra can be very competitive, especially when booked in advance and outside of peak business travel times.
Travellers flying into Canberra will find the most frequent and competitively priced arrivals from the major eastern seaboard hubs. The primary routes are from Sydney (SYD), Melbourne (MEL), and Brisbane (BNE), with additional regular services from Perth (PER), Adelaide (ADL), and the Gold Coast (OOL), catering predominantly to government, business, and leisure traffic. If you are coming from outside Australia, you will almost certainly connect through Sydney or Melbourne first.
The arrival market at CBR is defined by a competitive duopoly between Qantas (and its subsidiary QantasLink) and Virgin Australia, with Rex also providing service on select routes (e.g., from Sydney and Melbourne). This competition, particularly on the busy Sydney–Canberra and Melbourne–Canberra corridors, leads to regular fare sales and promotional pricing, especially for off-peak travel times (mid‑week, outside of parliamentary sitting weeks). Jetstar, the low‑cost carrier, has a very limited presence at CBR, so don't expect ultra‑cheap fares on the scale of Melbourne–Sydney.
To find the cheapest flights to Canberra, book domestic arrivals from Sydney or Melbourne at least 2–3 weeks in advance, avoiding Monday morning and Friday afternoon peak business times (fares spike on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons). Signing up for airline newsletters from Qantas and Virgin is crucial to catch flash sales. For international travel from North America, Europe, or Asia, it is almost always cheaper and offers more flexibility to book a separate domestic connecting flight to Sydney (SYD) or Melbourne (MEL) first, then an onward ticket to Canberra, rather than a single through‑fare starting from your international origin. However, if you book a single through‑fare on Qantas or Virgin (e.g., Los Angeles–Sydney–Canberra), you have the advantage of through‑checked baggage and protection against delays.