Air Canada cancels Vancouver’s longest direct flight to Singapore

Air Canada will suspend its YVR-Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) route on Jan. 26, 2027. The service is Vancouver’s only direct connection to Singapore, the longest direct route from Vancouver International Airport and the longest in Air Canada’s network, taking 16 to 17 hours each way. Launched in April 2024, it operates four times a week—Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays—using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and has been popular with business and leisure travellers heading to Southeast Asia.

Spokesperson Angela Mah said the route did not generate the demand needed to make it commercially viable. Despite significant efforts and resources invested by Air Canada and partners for nearly three years, she said, it did not meet the business targets required for a sustainable service. Mah cited commercial demand, the 12,818-kilometre/7,965-mile distance and current fuel costs, saying ultra-long flights are inefficient because of their additional fuel requirements and fuel burn. Air Canada said the timing of the suspension should protect most customers already booked and that it will redeploy the aircraft to markets where demand better matches its current position.

The airline will continue to serve Singapore through codeshare agreements with Star Alliance partners, including Singapore Airlines-operated flights via Narita, Incheon, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Brussels. It also offers codeshare options with All Nippon Airways (ANA) for onward connections from Tokyo-Narita and Tokyo-Haneda. Air Canada has also cut several routes amid the continuing Middle East war and its effects on the oil supply chain through the Strait of Hormuz. In May, it removed four routes, including Vancouver to Raleigh, N.C.; some later route changes were seasonal services ending earlier, while other cancellations were incorrectly attributed to rising fuel costs. Statistics Canada reported that air transportation prices rose 12 per cent year over year in July, after increasing 9.6 per cent in June.