Singapore Airlines extends Singapore-Dubai flight cancellations until February 2027 as Middle East tensions persist
Singapore Airlines has extended the cancellation of its Singapore-Dubai flights SQ494 and SQ495 until 28 February 2027, citing the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
Singapore Airlines has extended the cancellation of its flights between Singapore and Dubai until 28 February 2027, prolonging a suspension that has already kept one of the busiest links between South-East Asia and the Gulf off the timetable for months.
The suspension covers flight SQ494 from Singapore to Dubai and the return service SQ495 from Dubai to Singapore. In an advisory issued on Friday, 30 October, the airline said both services would remain cancelled until the end of February 2027, citing the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
The latest move is an extension, not a first suspension. The two flights had previously been cancelled until 1 December 2026, so the new date pushes the halt back by almost another three months and takes it well into next year, leaving passengers who had hoped for a December resumption to make other plans.
Singapore Airlines said passengers booked on the cancelled services could seek a full refund of the unused portion of their ticket. The airline directed travellers to its Flight Status page for the latest information, a routine step when a long suspension is extended but one that matters for passengers with connecting journeys, hotel bookings and onward travel already arranged.
The carrier also warned that the situation remains fluid and that other flights could be affected. That warning reflects how quickly airspace decisions, airport operations and airline schedules have been changing across the region in recent weeks, even on routes that have not themselves been cancelled.
The disruption began after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February, and the conflict has shown no sign of ending. Since then, airlines operating in and around the Gulf have repeatedly adjusted schedules as security conditions, airspace restrictions and risk assessments have shifted, sometimes at short notice.
The latest escalation has added to that pressure. Houthi attacks on sites in Saudi Arabia, including airports and oil facilities, have heightened concern across the region, and several carriers have already suspended or curtailed services to Saudi destinations. The Singapore-Dubai extension therefore sits within a wider pattern of caution, rather than as an isolated commercial decision.
For travellers, the practical effect is straightforward: the direct Singapore Airlines link between the two cities will not be available through the winter peak and into early 2027. Passengers will need to look for alternative routings, which may mean longer journeys, different carriers or revised dates, and business travellers and tourists alike will have to factor that uncertainty into plans that would normally be made months in advance.
Dubai is one of the world's major aviation hubs, and a prolonged absence on a route served daily before the suspension underlines how deeply regional tensions are now affecting ordinary travel. The airline has not announced a restart date beyond 28 February 2027, and it has not said whether services would resume immediately on that date or be reviewed again closer to the time.
What happens next will depend largely on how the security situation develops. If conditions stabilise, the route could return sooner than the new end date suggests, or be restored in stages; if tensions persist or worsen, a further extension remains a possibility. For now, the only certainty for booked passengers is the cancellation itself, and the refund offer that accompanies it.
