SIA postpones Dubai restart to late October, with a two-class A350 for the winter and booking caps pointing to a 777, not the A380, from March 2027. Meanwhile Riyadh slips to December, with a 25% capacity cut.
Singapore Airlines has cancelled its Dubai flights for the remainder of the northern summer season, with SQ494 and SQ495 now axed through to 24th October 2026, meaning the route will have gone nearly eight months without a single service by the time it (hopefully) returns.
That return, as we predicted back in May, will come courtesy of the two-class Airbus A350 Medium Haul rather than the Airbus A380 originally planned, with the superjumbo now promised from 28th March 2027 instead, though sales inventory suggests a Boeing 777-300ER is the more likely plan.
Meanwhile, the airline has pushed back the relaunch of its Riyadh service for a second time, from 1st September 2026 to 1st December 2026, while quietly reducing frequencies by 25%, and Scoot’s Jeddah flights have been suspended again after just three weeks back in the air, as the situation in the Middle East once again heads in the wrong direction.
Dubai grounded until late October
The latest extension came via an update to SIA’s standing travel advisory on Wednesday afternoon (15th July 2026), which the airline attributes to “the geopolitical situation in the Middle East”.
It’s a pure date extension of the same advisory first published in March 2026, shortly after flights were halted, and confirms that SQ494 (Singapore to Dubai) and SQ495 (Dubai to Singapore) are cancelled until 24th October 2026, the final day of the northern summer 2026 (NS26) season.
In other words, having already been suspended since 28th February 2026, the route is now formally written off for the entire summer schedule.
(Photo: Diego Delso)
The previous restart date of 3rd August 2026 was itself the fourth attempt to get the route back off the ground, and the pattern by now will be familiar to our regular readers. Here’s how the saga has unfolded so far:
- 1st January 2026: SIA announces the A380 for Dubai, from 29th March 2026
- 5th February 2026: Year-round A380 operation confirmed for the route
- 28th February 2026: Flights suspended, as military strikes trigger widespread Middle East airspace closures
- 20th March 2026: The Dubai A380 is redeployed to Melbourne instead
- 2nd April 2026: Restart pushed back to 1st June 2026, with a 777-300ER swapped in for the summer (a brief 30th April restart plan came and went in between)
- 1st May 2026: Restart pushed back again to 3rd August 2026, with First Class and Premium Economy sales pulled for the winter season, the big hint that the A380 was off the cards
- 15th July 2026: Flights cancelled through to 24th October 2026, A350 Medium Haul to operate for the winter 2026/27 season
There’s no small irony here. It was only in recent years that SIA was actively working towards a 10x weekly (and later applied for double daily) Singapore – Dubai operation, and the planned A380 upgauge was almost certainly the alternative means of adding that capacity while suitable slots for those additional flights proved impossible to secure.
Instead, the city currently sees no Singapore Airlines flights at all, with the route set to return using a two-class A350 Medium Haul.
A350 MH confirmed for the winter
When we last covered this route on 1st May, SIA had stopped selling First Class and Premium Economy on every single Dubai flight in the northern winter 2026/27 (NW26/27) season, despite the A380 still being loaded in the schedule, a tell-tale sign the superjumbo was quietly being dropped.
That’s now come true, with the two-class Airbus A350 Medium Haul formally pencilled in on the route from 25th October 2026 through to 27th March 2027.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
This is the aircraft that served Dubai from the post-COVID restart in January 2021 right through until March 2025, when the 777-300ER returned and First Class was restored to the route, so it’s a notable step backwards for a route that was supposed to be a year-round A380 destination by now, alongside the likes of London and Sydney.
The A350 MH is fitted with 40 Business Class seats in the 2018 Regional configuration, plus 263 Economy Class seats, meaning:
- No First Class and no Premium Economy to or from Dubai until late March 2027 (assuming later plans hold)
- A smaller Regional Business Class seat, which many of our readers find a tighter squeeze on longer flights, and Dubai services push 7 hours 40 minutes gate-to-gate in the winter season
Singapore Airlines
Singapore ⇄ Dubai
25 Oct 2026 – 27 Mar 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ494 A350 MH |
|||||||||
| SIN 14:30 |
DXB 18:00 |
||||||||
| Duration: 07:30 | |||||||||
| SQ494 A350 MH |
|||||||||
| SIN 14:30 |
DXB 18:10 |
||||||||
| Duration: 07:40 | |||||||||
| SQ495 A350 MH |
|||||||||
| DXB 19:50 |
SIN 07:15* |
||||||||
| Duration: 07:25 | |||||||||
* Next day
As always, the restart date itself should be pencilled in rather than inked in, given the ongoing volatility in the region which could well cause a further postponement.
A380 from March 2027, or is it a 777-300ER?
From 28th March 2027, the first day of the northern summer 2027 season, the Airbus A380 is once again loaded on the Dubai route, with all cabin classes on sale, but there’s an issue to flag.
The airline is capping First Class seat sales next summer on the Dubai route to just four bookings per flight from the proposed Airbus A380 restart dates. That matches the four-seat First Class cabin of the Boeing 777-300ER, not the six Suites you’ll find on the A380, strongly suggesting the 777 is the real plan, even though the superjumbo remains listed in the schedule.
We’ve seen the same pattern before. An identical four-seat First Class cap appeared on the route’s A380 flights from late February this year, just a few weeks before SIA formally reverted to the 777-300ER for the summer season. This sign almost always points the same way.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore ⇄ Dubai
28 Mar 2027 – 30 Oct 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ494 likely 777-300ER |
|||||||||
| SIN 14:40 |
DXB 18:00 |
||||||||
| Duration: 07:20 | |||||||||
| SQ495 likely 777-300ER |
|||||||||
| DXB 19:45 |
SIN 07:30* |
||||||||
| Duration: 07:45 | |||||||||
* Next day
Given that this is the third time SIA has committed the superjumbo to Dubai, and the first two attempts didn’t survive, the restricted First Class sales inventory certainly points to a downgauge planned in the background.
It also means the ‘spare’ A380 freed up by Dubai’s winter removal would then be available for redeployment elsewhere in NS27, with Melbourne being the obvious incumbent as the current ‘user’ of Dubai’s aircraft.
Melbourne’s SQ237/228 flights see a downgauge from the Airbus A380 to the Boeing 777-300ER from 28th March 2027, based on filed schedules, but it wouldn’t be a bad bet that this won’t actually happen.
That said, summer 2027 is a long time away and there’s still plenty of time for SIA to make changes to that schedule.
Riyadh slips to December, with 25% less capacity
Singapore Airlines hasn’t made any announcement on this one, but booking systems now reflect a 1st December 2026 launch for the carrier’s Riyadh service, a further three-month slip from the previously planned 1st September 2026 start.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
That means the route’s return, after a 12-year absence from the Saudi capital, has now been delayed by a full six months from the original 2nd June 2026 launch date, following the first postponement in April.
This won’t come as a complete surprise to regular readers. In our May article we noted that SIA had restricted Riyadh bookings to only the most expensive ‘Z’ and ‘Y’ Flexi fare codes for the entire September and October period, the same tell-tale hint that preceded the first delay, and predicted a November launch as the likely outcome.
In the end, SIA has gone a month further.
In more bad news for the route, the airline has also trimmed its proposed flight schedule down to three times weekly, from the original four times weekly, a 25% capacity cut.
Singapore Riyadh
1 Dec 2026 – 25 Mar 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ498 A350 MH |
|||||||||
| SIN 17:40 |
RUH 21:35 |
||||||||
| Duration: 08:55 | |||||||||
| SQ499 A350 MH |
|||||||||
| RUH 22:50 |
SIN 11:50* |
||||||||
| Duration: 08:00 | |||||||||
* Next day
Saturday flights in both directions have been removed from the schedule, through to the end of the northern winter 2026/27 season, after which the route returns to four times weekly for the summer 2027 season, as outlined below.
Singapore Riyadh
28 Mar 2027 – 30 Oct 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ498 A350 MH |
|||||||||
| SIN 18:20 |
RUH 21:45 |
||||||||
| Duration: 08:25 | |||||||||
| SQ499 A350 MH |
|||||||||
| RUH 23:00 |
SIN 12:15* |
||||||||
| Duration: 08:15 | |||||||||
* Next day
This will still be SIA’s longest route to feature the 2018 Regional Business Class product, at nearly nine hours in the winter months.
Scoot’s Jeddah flights grounded again
It’s a similar story over at Scoot, where Jeddah flights have been suspended once again from 14th July 2026 until at least 27th July 2026, barely three weeks after they resumed.
The low-cost subsidiary’s Saudi Arabia service has had a troubled 2026 so far:
- Up to 26th February 2026: Operating normally as TR596/597
- 28th February – 21st June 2026: Route fully suspended following the same regional tensions that grounded SIA’s Dubai flights, with a tentative 18th April restart abandoned and cancellations extended month by month
- 22nd June – 13th July 2026: Flights resumed three-times weekly under a new TR796/797 flight number, following the 60-day interim peace deal signed on 17th June, but lasted just three weeks
- 14th July 2026 onwards: Suspended again, until at least 27th July 2026
(Photo: Boeing)
We’re not here to cover the politics, but the pattern is obvious.
The brief window of optimism that followed June’s interim peace deal, which saw Scoot’s Jeddah flights take to the air again and briefly made SIA’s 3rd August Dubai plan look achievable, has clearly given way to renewed tensions between the USA and Iran in recent days, with stability in the region once again moving in the wrong direction.
What if you’re booked?
If you hold a ticket on SIA’s Dubai flights up to 24th October 2026 or Riyadh flights up to 30th November 2026, you’re entitled to a full refund of the unused portion.
Those who booked directly with the airline can apply through SIA’s Assistance Request Form, while bookings made via travel agents or partner airlines should be handled by the agent or airline concerned.
SIA also recommends keeping your contact details up to date via Manage Booking, to receive flight status updates, and notes that other flights may yet be affected as the situation evolves.
If you’ve redeemed KrisFlyer miles on these routes over the affected periods, expect to be contacted with rebooking or refund options.
KrisFlyer awards
Here are the one-way KrisFlyer award rates you’ll pay for the Singapore – Dubai and Singapore – Riyadh routes. Note that Premium Economy and First Class options will only be relevant for Dubai, if and when a four-class aircraft returns from 28th March 2027.
| KrisFlyer Redemption Rates One-Way Singapore ⇄ Middle East |
||||
| Airline / Cabin | Saver | Advantage | Access | |
 |
Economy Class |
32,000 |
66,500 |
95,500 |
|
Premium Economy |
51,500 |
n/a |
74,000 to 91,000 |
|
Business Class |
68,000 |
122,000 |
157,500 to 251,500 |
|
First Class |
95,000 |
171,000 |
317,500 |
Taxes and fees apply in addition to miles and typically total around S$68 from Singapore to Dubai / Riyadh. In the return direction, expect to pay around S$47 for Dubai – Singapore and around S$58 for Riyadh – Singapore.
Note that Singapore’s SAF levy applies to redemptions made on or after 1st October 2026, for travel on or after 1st January 2027, adding S$25.60 in First / Business Class or S$6.40 in Premium Economy / Economy Class in the ex-Singapore direction on both routes.
Singapore Airlines’ Dubai route is now formally suspended for the entire northern summer 2026 season, through to 24th October 2026, in what has become a depressingly regular series of extensions to the airline’s standing Middle East advisory.
When flights do return (and given the track record, that 25th October date deserves an asterisk), it will be with the two-class Airbus A350 Medium Haul for the winter, exactly as the withdrawal of First Class and Premium Economy sales foreshadowed back in May.
The Airbus A380 is promised for a third time from 28th March 2027, but we’re not holding our breath on that one either. First Class sales next summer are already capped at four seats per flight, matching the Boeing 777-300ER’s cabin rather than the A380’s six Suites, so a quiet downgauge looks to be the actual plan, meaning Suites may not grace this route again for a while yet.
Riyadh, meanwhile, has slipped to a 1st December 2026 launch, six months later than originally planned, and with a 25% capacity cut. The route now starts at just three flights per week, with the original four times weekly operation only pencilled in from late March 2027.
Add in Scoot’s Jeddah flights, grounded again after a three-week resumption, and it’s clear the optimism that followed June’s interim peace deal has, for now at least, evaporated, leaving the SIA Group’s Middle East network plans effectively back at square one.
We’ll keep a close eye on all three routes, plus the knock-on question of where SIA’s A380s end up flying this winter and next summer, in the weeks ahead.
(Cover Photo: Plane’s Portrait Aviation Media / Malcolm Lu)