There was a bit of bad news out of Singapore over the weekend, with The Straits Times reporting that Emirates will be canceling its Melbourne – Singapore flights. Having said that, a formal end date has not been announced. Emirates is waiting on feedback from Singapore’s Competition and Consumer Commission before plotting its next move.
The flight did suffer a bit from operating a rather unsociable schedule from Melbourne to Singapore. A flight departure time of 2.25 am is always going to be a struggle.
However, it has a much friendlier timetable from Singapore to Melbourne. Indeed, it took off from Singapore to Melbourne just after 10 in the morning. For frequent flyers able to snag a rare First Class redemption on the flight, it offered 7 hours of pampering.
Anyone who has tried to redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points on Emirates may be aware of some of the eye-watering carrier surcharges that Emirates levy. It may be a bit of a surprise that this flight had surcharges of just over $100. For whatever reason, Emirates goes gently on some Fifth Freedom redemptions. The end of this service is the end of what many see as a bargain.
While it is currently a Boeing 777 service, back in the day, the service was operated by an A380 aircraft. That service cam with all the trimmings that Emirates was famous for, such as an inflight shower.
Other flights not affected
While Melbourne to Singapore may be going, Emirates will continue to operate
- 4 services a day between Dubai and Singapore
- 2 services a day between Dubai and Melbourne
For now, however, the flights are still on sale. Once Emirates digests any decision from Singapore they will be announcing the actual end date. At that time, there will be a further announcement on how they will deal with bookings on the service.
