Yes, you can smoke at Sunshine Coast Airport (MCY) — outdoors, landside, before the security screening point. The terminal interior is smoke-free indoors, so this outdoor spot is the only option before you fly.
Where to Smoke at Sunshine Coast Airport
MCY runs a single terminal building that splits into separate domestic and international areas, with no aerobridges — passengers cross the tarmac on foot to board. Open-air smoking is permitted outside the terminal building, landside, beyond Queensland’s 5-metre entrance buffer; the airport publishes no marked smoking spot.
Sunshine Coast Airport also runs scheduled international service to Auckland alongside its wider domestic network — international arrivals reach the same single terminal and the same landside smoking option after clearing customs and biosecurity, just like every domestic passenger. There is no airside smoking area at Sunshine Coast Airport, so a connecting passenger must exit landside, smoke outside, and re-clear security before returning to the gate. If your itinerary routes through Brisbane, Brisbane’s Level 3 Smoking Balcony is the only Australian airport with a facility after security. Route south through Sydney and you are back to the MCY arrangement: Sydney Airport’s smoking areas are all on the departures and arrivals kerbs, so you would leave the terminal and re-screen there as well.
E-Cigarettes and Vaping
Vaping follows the same rule as smoking at MCY — Queensland law treats e-cigarettes the same as tobacco, so the same open-air landside spot applies, beyond the 5-metre entrance buffer. Australia sells vapes through pharmacies only — the Therapeutic Goods Administration allows strengths of 20 mg/mL nicotine or less to adults 18 and over without a prescription, and higher strengths on prescription — so no shop at the airport stocks them. Travellers arriving from overseas may bring a small personal quantity in accompanied baggage for their own use and declare it to the Australian Border Force; a prescription or doctor’s letter is not required.
Summary
| Area | Smoking? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal interior | No | Smoke-free under Queensland law |
| Airside / after security | No | No airside smoking area |
| Outdoor landside area | Yes | Beyond the 5-metre entrance buffer; no marked spot published |
| Vaping | Yes | Same outdoor area; treated like smoking under Queensland law |
For Australia-wide airport smoking rules, the vape restrictions and every other Australian airport, see our Australia smoking guide.