The Singapore route is a favourite of business travellers and vacationers headed to Southeast Asia.
Canada’s flag carrier has just cancelled the only direct flight from Vancouver to Singapore.
The route is also the longest direct option from Vancouver International Airport, and the longest on Air Canada’s roster. It takes an eye-watering 16 to 17 hours to get from A to B. The route is a favourite of business travellers and vacationers headed to Southeast Asia, offering lie-flat seats on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (perfect for getting some shut-eye on the long flight).
The flight operates four times weekly, departing from YVR on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
But it hasn’t met the demand required to make it commercially viable for Canada’s biggest carrier.
The airline will suspend the route from YVR to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) on Jan. 26, 2027, which is “far enough in the future” to protect most customers who have booked flights overseas, says Air Canada spokesperson Angela Mah.
“Despite significant efforts and resources invested in the Vancouver-Singapore route for close to three years by Air Canada and other partners, the route regrettably did not meet the business targets that would enable this service to remain sustainable,” she adds.
“The economic factors affecting this route include commercial demand and the route’s ultra-long distance (12,818 kilometres/7,965 miles) together with the current cost of fuel, which makes ultra-long flights inefficient due to the additional fuel requirements and associated fuel burn,” Mah says.
Air Canada will redeploy the aircraft used on the route to other markets where demand better aligns with its current position, she says.
The airline will continue to serve Singapore through codeshare agreements with Star Alliance partners, including Singapore Airlines’ operated flights (to Narita, Incheon, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Brussels). It also has codeshare options with Japan’s five-star airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA), for Air Canada flights connecting onward from Tokyo-Narita and Tokyo-Haneda airports.
Air Canada slashed several Vancouver flights amid soaring fuel costs
Air Canada has slashed several routes due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, impacting the oil supply chain operating in the Strait of Hormuz. The war broke out in February, and Canadian airlines — as well as carriers around the world — began slashing routes.
In May, the airline cut four routes from its network, including one from Vancouver to Raleigh, North Carolina, following a previous swath of cancellations, including a flight from Fort McMurray to Vancouver. It continued to axe routes after that, but the airline said that some were seasonal and ending sooner, rather than full cancellations (like other routes). In some cases, routes were cancelled for other reasons and incorrectly attributed to soaring fuel costs.
Jet fuel costs continue to surge, impacting flight prices. Air transportation prices climbed 12 per cent year over year in July following a 9.6 per cent jump in June, according to the latest Statistics Canada report.
Air Canada launched the YVR-SIN route in April 2024, starting with flights on the route four times weekly.
Singapore’s airport consistently ranks as the best airport in the world by Skytrax’s survey of millions of air travellers, and is known for efficient customs processing.
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