Air Canada's only nonstop between Canada and Singapore has a countdown clock running. The carrier's Vancouver–Singapore service, relaunched only in April 2024, is scheduled to end with a final departure from Vancouver on January 24, 2027 — barely three years after it returned.
It's a familiar loop in this market. Air Canada flew to Singapore for years until 1991, then came back only after Singapore Airlines pulled out of Vancouver in September 2023. Singapore Airlines itself had served the city until 2009, returned during the pandemic in 2021 (often with a Seattle tag), and left again — opening the door for Air Canada to step into a ready-made market. That door is now swinging shut.
The route is currently Air Canada's longest nonstop at up to 16 hours 45 minutes, flown five times weekly with a 298-seat Boeing 787-9. The late-night departure from Vancouver (11:15 PM) slots into the airline's main Asia-Pacific departure bank, feeding long-haul flying with passengers from across North America, while the 7:45 AM arrival back in Vancouver does the same in reverse. On the surface, demand looked healthy: over the 12 months to July 2026 the airline offered about 134,000 round-trip seats at an estimated 88% load factor. The problem, presumably, was yield — ultra-long-haul flying is brutally expensive, and strong loads don't guarantee strong profits.
The passenger mix also hints at why the route struggled to justify itself. Only about a quarter of travellers flew solely between Vancouver and Singapore. The biggest single group — 40% — were Singaporeans or others starting or ending in Singapore who connected in Vancouver from elsewhere in North America, with Toronto the top feed and Calgary, Montreal, Edmonton and Ottawa behind it. Another 25% connected at both ends, with Winnipeg–Vancouver–Singapore–Manila the most popular routing. Just 7% of passengers connected onward in Singapore. Seven in ten travellers only touched Canada — Denver was the largest US market.
When the route goes, Air Canada's longest nonstop becomes Delhi–Toronto (up to 16 hours 25 minutes thanks to routing around Russian, Ukrainian and Iranian airspace), and Vancouver's longest link becomes Bangkok at up to 16 hours 15 minutes. That Bangkok route, launched in 2022, is going from strength to strength, with record seat numbers planned for winter 2026/27. Air Canada is still growing in Asia too — Sapporo starts in December, Guangzhou follows in May — so the network isn't shrinking so much as being reshaped toward routes the airline thinks earn more from the same aircraft.
For travellers, the practical takeaway: if you want the nonstop, book before late January 2027. After that, Canada–Singapore trips will mean connecting through hubs like Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Doha or Dubai — or via Air Canada's own gateway cities with a stop in Europe or elsewhere in Asia. Don't expect Singapore Airlines to fill the gap in Vancouver; the analysis suggests that's unlikely.
