Six months ago Singapore Airlines withdrew from the Canadian market for the second time in its history, when it ended its three times weekly non-stop service between Changi and Vancouver, which it had been operating for less than two years, having last served the city via Seoul before that way back in 2009.

This morning Singapore – Vancouver services have restarted under a different Star Alliance operator, with Air Canada picking up the baton from SIA, offering four times weekly flights using three-class Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Mainly Miles understands that the inaugural service this morning, AC19 from Vancouver to Singapore, was well-subscribed, with only around six seats left unsold. The return service, AC20 back to Canada today, is reported to have a load factor of approximately 92%, with fewer than 25 unsold seats, predominantly in Economy Class.

Indeed GDS data for April 2024 shows that on some dates Business Class availability on the carrier’s new Singapore – Vancouver flights is very limited. In fact, at least one flight towards the end of the month is already fully booked in both Business Class and Premium Economy.

Undoubtedly encouraged by this strong demand for the route, Air Canada has announced plans to introduce additional services, promising a 25% capacity increase later this year.

Vancouver route hiked from December 2024

From 4th December 2024, Air Canada will increase its flight schedule between Singapore and Vancouver with the addition of a fifth weekly service departing from Vancouver on Wednesdays and from Singapore on Fridays.

Adding an additional 298 seats in each direction per week on the route, this will bring total weekly seats to 1,490 in each direction, marking a 25% capacity increase. This will come into effect just in time for the peak ski season, Christmas, and New Year holiday periods.

Singapore isn’t the only Asian route receiving a boost either.

Air Canada is also loading a fifth weekly flight on its seasonal (winter) Bangkok – Vancouver city pair from the same week, marking an even bigger increase from the initially scheduled three weekly services.

Prior to today, Air Canada’s last passenger flights to and from Singapore ceased over 33 years ago, way back in January 1991.

This was in the form of a Singapore – Toronto service that routed via Mumbai and London, utilising Boeing 747 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft.

The schedule

Currently Air Canada operates four times weekly Boeing 787-9 flights between Singapore and Vancouver, in a summer season schedule that runs to late October 2024, as shown below.

Singapore Vancouver
4 Apr – 26 Oct 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	AC20 787-9
SIN 09:10		YVR 08:50
Duration: 14:40

Vancouver Singapore
3 Apr – 26 Oct 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	AC19 787-9
YVR 00:05		SIN 07:10*
Duration: 16:05

* Next day

Starting from the beginning of the northern winter season, there will be slight adjustments to the schedule.

Flights departing from Vancouver will depart 30 minutes earlier, causing them to fall on the previous day of the week in each instance. Consequently, arrivals in Singapore will occur two calendar days later, instead of one.

Do take note of these changes to avoid any confusion!

Singapore Vancouver
27 Oct – 3 Dec 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	AC20 787-9
SIN 10:00		YVR 08:30
Duration: 14:30

Vancouver Singapore
27 Oct – 3 Dec 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	AC19 787-9
YVR 23:35		SIN 08:10**
Duration: 16:35

** Two days later

Finally here’s how the schedule looks with the new fifth daily service added, from early December 2024.

Singapore Vancouver
5 Dec 2024 – 29 Mar 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	AC20 787-9
SIN 10:00		YVR 08:30
Duration: 14:30

Vancouver Singapore
4 Dec 2024 – 28 Mar 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	AC19 787-9
YVR 23:35		SIN 08:10**
Duration: 16:35

** Two days later

Air Canada flights operate to and from Terminal 2 at Changi Airport, a change from the original plan to use T3, but still maximising connectivity with SIA services. Check in is at Row 4, and opens 4 hours prior to departure.

Singapore Airlines codeshares on this service, with AC20 also carrying the flight number SQ1050.

Air Canada’s flight schedule on this route is designed to optimise connectivity to and from North American destinations via Air Canada’s Vancouver hub, and in the opposite direction will also tap Singapore Airlines’ network across Southeast Asia, South India and Western Australia at the Changi side.

While Air Canada already operates non-stop flights to Brisbane and Sydney in Australia, the Singapore service is a useful way for passengers to connect between Canada and Perth in particular, an unfeasibly long flight for the carrier to serve non-stop with a Boeing 787.

This week, Air Canada initiated codesharing on the 9.30am SQ223 flight from Singapore to Perth and the SQ216 flight from Perth to Singapore, landing into Changi at 6.35am each morning. These flights connect seamlessly with the new Vancouver service.

Aside from Perth, other SIA flights that now have Air Canada codeshare flight numbers added since this week include:

• Singapore – Bangkok
• Singapore – Colombo
• Singapore – Dhaka
• Singapore – Ho Chi Minh
• Singapore – Kuala Lumpur
• Singapore – Penang
• Singapore – Phnom Penh
• Singapore – Phuket

Air Canada’s Boeing 787-9s

Air Canada’s Singapore flights are operated by 298-seat Boeing 787-9 aircraft, featuring three cabins of service:

• 30 Business Class (Signature Class) seats with lie-flat beds
• 21 Premium Economy seats (2-3-2 layout)
• 247 Economy Class seats (3-3-3 layout)

In Business Class, these are Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats, each 21 inches wide in a reverse-herringbone 1-2-1 configuration, which convert to an 80-inch-long fully flat-bed.

You can see an accurate seat map of this aircraft at the aeroLOPA site.

Air Canada offers Acqua di Parma amenity kits in Business Class.

USB-A and USB-C charging sockets are available, while entertainment is via an individual 18-inch HD touch screen system.

Most of Air Canada’s Boeing 787-9s (29 out of 30) are Wi-Fi equipped too, so there’s only a small chance you’ll be out of touch for the 14-16 hours these Singapore – Vancouver flights take.

Aeroplan members get a free text-based (messaging only) Wi-Fi package, but everyone else needs to pay, even in Business Class:

• 1 hour: CA$10.75 (~S$11)
• Full flight: CA$34.50 (~S$34)

You can find a recent review of the Business Class experience on Air Canada’s Boeing 787-9 here.

Award redemptions

Award seats on these Air Canada flights can be redeemed using KrisFlyer miles as well as those from other Star Alliance programs, such as Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles.

Here are the one-way KrisFlyer miles award rates for the Singapore – Vancouver route, when redeeming these Air Canada flights (Star Alliance Award).

KrisFlyer Redemption Singapore ⇄ Vancouver
	Star Award
Economy	60,500
Business	119,000

Round-trip cash fares on Air Canada’s non-stop flights from Singapore to Vancouver start at around S$1,200 in Economy Class, S$4,100 in Premium Economy and S$7,500 in Business Class, based on travel in July 2024.

Singapore once again boasts a direct flight to and from Canada, thanks to Air Canada’s introduction of Vancouver services this week. This comes after a six-month hiatus, following SIA’s withdrawal from the market back in September 2023.

Though services only started today, the airline has wasted no time in announcing that it plans to increase capacity by 25% with the introduction of a fifth daily flight on the route from early December 2024, perfectly timed for the start of Canada’s peak holiday travel season.

With flight timings designed to to coincide with both SIA and Air Canada connection banks at either side of the transpacific route, and a boost in frequencies already on the cards, let’s hope this secures Singapore’s non-stop connection with Canada for some time to come.

(Cover Photo: Air Canada)