Where the line actually falls, worked out from the published transfer fare and the measured drive time for all 331 suburbs we price to both. It is not where most people assume.
See every published fareMost of the time this is not your decision to make. Brisbane carries the far larger international schedule, so for a lot of overseas routes there is only one airport flying where you are going, and the ground transfer is irrelevant to the choice.
What follows matters in the case where both airports serve your route and the fares are close — which, on the southern side of Brisbane and the northern Gold Coast, happens more often than people expect. Then the ground leg is the tiebreaker, and it is worth knowing it can swing by $100 across a ten-kilometre stretch of motorway.
Not at the border, not at Coomera, and not at the Logan River in the way people say. The sedan fare, one way, per vehicle:
| From | Gold Coast (OOL) | Brisbane (BNE) | Difference | Drive, OOL / BNE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolangatta | $80 | $280 | OOL by $200 | 2 / 73 min |
| Burleigh Heads | $95 | $255 | OOL by $160 | 14 / 63 min |
| Broadbeach | $110 | $245 | OOL by $135 | 30 / 69 min |
| Surfers Paradise | $125 | $245 | OOL by $120 | 31 / 63 min |
| Southport | $125 | $235 | OOL by $110 | 34 / 56 min |
| Helensvale | $145 | $210 | OOL by $65 | 29 / 49 min |
| Coomera | $155 | $195 | OOL by $40 | 38 / 48 min |
| Ormeau | $165 | $195 | OOL by $30 | 39 / 36 min |
| Yatala | $165 | $195 | OOL by $30 | 44 / 34 min |
| Beenleigh | $225 | $155 | BNE by $70 | 47 / 31 min |
| Jimboomba | $225 | $185 | BNE by $40 | 72 / 43 min |
| Springwood | $225 | $140 | BNE by $85 | 55 / 25 min |
| Logan Central | $225 | $140 | BNE by $85 | 56 / 28 min |
| Sunnybank | $255 | $140 | BNE by $115 | 65 / 25 min |
| Brisbane CBD | $275 | $95 | BNE by $180 | 69 / 20 min |
| Chermside | $275 | $85 | BNE by $190 | 78 / 15 min |
Every suburb we serve has its own page with both fares and both measured drive times — browse by suburb or see the full price list.
Yatala to Beenleigh is about ten minutes up the M1. Across that stretch the answer moves from Gold Coast, cheaper by $30 to Brisbane, cheaper by $70 — a hundred-dollar swing. If you live anywhere between Coomera and Loganholme, it is genuinely worth checking rather than assuming.
At Ormeau the Gold Coast is $30 cheaper but Brisbane is three minutes quicker. At Yatala the gap is wider: $30 cheaper to the Gold Coast, ten minutes quicker to Brisbane. The M1 runs north faster than the coast road runs south, so in that narrow band money and time point in opposite directions. Everywhere else on the list they agree.
$220 to Gold Coast Airport against $450 to Brisbane, and 45 minutes against 111. If you are headed for Byron, Bangalow or Suffolk Park, flying into Brisbane costs you an extra $230 and an extra hour each way before you have bought anything. See Byron Bay transfers.
Hardly at all. The fourteen-seat Sprinter follows the same line as the sedan:
Group size changes how much you save, not which airport saves it.
The return leg. If you fly in to one and out of the other, you pay both fares and the comparison above stops applying. It is worth pricing the actual pair of trips rather than one direction twice.
The time of day. Our fare is the same at any hour either way, so this does not move the comparison — but the drive does. The M1 between Coomera and the Logan Motorway is the piece that slows in weekday peak, and it is on the Brisbane leg for everyone south of it.
The terminal itself. Gold Coast Airport is one building with a single arrivals hall. Brisbane has domestic and international about two kilometres apart, which is why we ask for your flight number — it tells your chauffeur which building to be standing in.
These are our ground-transfer fares, not a view on airfares. What a seat costs into each airport changes by route, season and day, and we have no visibility of it. The figures here only tell you what the drive costs once you have landed, which is the part we can state precisely because we publish it for every suburb.
On ground transport, the line runs across the M1 between Yatala and Beenleigh. At Ormeau and Yatala the Gold Coast is $30 cheaper. Ten minutes up the motorway at Beenleigh, Brisbane is $70 cheaper. Nothing else on the coast is that finely balanced.
Usually not, because the flight decides it. Brisbane carries the far larger international schedule, so for many overseas routes there is no choice to make. The ground fare is the tiebreaker when both airports actually serve where you are going.
Of the 331 suburbs we price to both airports, 79 are cheaper to the Gold Coast and 252 are cheaper to Brisbane. That sounds lopsided because Brisbane has far more suburbs near it, not because one airport is generally better placed.
The Gold Coast, by a long way. Byron Bay is $220 to Gold Coast Airport and $450 to Brisbane, and the drive is 45 minutes against 111. It is the clearest case on the whole list.
At Ormeau and Yatala, yes. The Gold Coast is cheaper by $30 but Brisbane is a few minutes quicker, because the motorway runs north faster than the coast road runs south. Everywhere else on the list, the cheaper airport is also the nearer one.
Barely. A fourteen-seat Sprinter from Coomera is $70 cheaper to the Gold Coast, and from Jimboomba it is $75 cheaper to Brisbane, which is the same side of the line as the sedan. Group size changes the amount, not the answer.
Put your address in and pick either airport. Both fares come back straight away, so you can compare them before you book the flight rather than after.
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