Emirates operates a huge number of fifth freedom routes, ranging from New York to Milan, to Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, to Male to Colombo, to Bangkok to Hong Kong. The airline has just formally cut one of its longest standing fifth freedom flights, and I can’t say I’m surprised. While we learned about Emirates’ plans to cut this route several months back, we now know when it will end.
In this post:
Emirates ending Singapore to Melbourne route
As of March 30, 2025, Emirates will be discontinuing its daily flight between Singapore (SIN) and Melbourne (MEL). The airline has been operating this route continuously since 1996, with the exception of a service suspension during the pandemic. A few months back, Emirates informed the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) of its intentions to pull out of this market, and now the timeline has also been revealed.
For context, this route currently operates daily using a Boeing 777-300ER, with the following schedule:
EK404 Singapore to Melbourne departing 10:25AM arriving 7:35PM
EK405 Melbourne to Singapore departing 2:25AM arriving 8:15AM
The 3,744-mile flight is blocked at 7hr10min southbound and 7hr50min northbound.
When this route is cut, Emirates will continue flying nonstop from Dubai to Singapore, and also nonstop from Dubai to Melbourne. It’s simply the link between Singapore and Melbourne that’s being cut. Emirates will continue to codeshare with Qantas on the route. Once this route is pulled, Emirates’ only remaining fifth freedom route from Singapore will be to Phnom Penh.
For that matter, Emirates will actually add a third daily nonstop flight between Dubai and Melbourne as of March 30, 2025, coinciding with when the Singapore link ends. So capacity to Melbourne will remain unchanged, it’s just that the focus will be on Dubai rather than Singapore.
Singapore to Melbourne is a highly competitive market, served by Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Jetstar, and Scoot. Emirates accounts for roughly 11% of the capacity in the market.
My take on Emirates cutting Singapore to Melbourne flights
I can’t say that I’m surprised to see Emirates cutting its Singapore to Melbourne route, as the airline has cut quite a few of its fifth freedom transpacific routes in recent years. For example, in 2019, Emirates ended its Singapore to Brisbane route, as well as its Bangkok to Sydney route.
Emirates describes these cuts as being part of a broader strategy to optimize operational costs, and focus on profitable routes.
These routes were all historically quite significant. Keep in mind that Emirates only started flying nonstop between Dubai and Australia as of 2003, so up until that point, all the services operated with stops in Southeast Asia.
So the Singapore to Melbourne route has quite some historical significance, though nowadays it’s not really needed:
- Emirates has a huge amount of nonstop service between Dubai and Australia; the Australian government is much more generous to Emirates than Qatar Airways when it comes to granting slots (though Qatar Airways has now found a workaround, by investing in Virgin Australia)
- When it comes to serving the Singapore to Melbourne market, that’s highly competitive, with Qantas and Singapore Airlines both having a loyal customer base in their respective markets
- Emirates has a codeshare agreement with Qantas, so the airline can still route passengers to Melbourne through Singapore if it wants to
While I’m not surprised to see the route cut, I also wouldn’t have been shocked if the route had stuck around. I mean, Emirates has done an unbelievable job scaling its network, and has a great cost structure, which makes all kinds of routes feasible, even if they wouldn’t work with other airlines.
Bottom line
Emirates will cancel its Singapore to Melbourne route as of March 30, 2025, which has been operated since 1996. This is only the latest Australia fifth freedom flight that the airline has canceled.
These routes used to be really critical to the airline, but with the increase in nonstop flights between Dubai and Australia, they don’t have the importance that they once did. Clearly Emirates has been reevaluating this strategy in recent years. Instead, Emirates plans to add an extra nonstop flight between Dubai and Melbourne.
What do you make of Emirates cutting Singapore to Melbourne flights?
Just before the pandemic I remember they started a route from Singapore to somewhere in Malaysia, what happened to that?
Could you please explain the great interest in 5th freedom routes among those in the points space? I've heard about them for years and wondering if there is something unique about them, other than being an "oddity", that makes them special? E.g. more award space????
Relic of a bygone era. Honestly surprised EK kept it this long. They should have better uses for the plane.
I see we mention capacity to Melbourne in the article, but is capacity to Singapore unchanged (i.e. EK404/EK405 keep running, just only on the leg between DXB and SIN)? As someone who flies on Emirates out of SIN, EK404 is the only flight that connects from BOS-DXB, ORD-DXB, MCO-DXB, etc, unless you want to wait from 7 pm to 2:30 am... so would be nice to see the service kept.
The awful 2:30 am departure time from Melbourne sure didn't help!
Somehow right now in northern winter season it's 3:25 am, even worse....
Emirates will add a third non-stop flight to Melbourne to replace the route.
Will it be on a Airbus A380 or a Boeing 777-300ER?.
I really like Emirates Singapore to Melbourne route.
I'm impacted. Received the email and was told no alternative options are available. Have already called them will try again tomorrow (in Australia). I booked before they announced the cancellation of this flight.
Please let us know how it turns out. I'm curious to know how Emirates accommodates passengers when they cancel routes.
I actually booked through QF. It was a rewards booking in F. There are no alternatives for F from MEL to SIN that are direct.
I spoke to QF early this morning. I managed to get a flight from MEL to SYD and then SYD to SIN in F. The Mel to SYD part is in economy. I tried to discuss that and refunding the exorbitant EK fees but the person became flustered so...
I actually booked through QF. It was a rewards booking in F. There are no alternatives for F from MEL to SIN that are direct.
I spoke to QF early this morning. I managed to get a flight from MEL to SYD and then SYD to SIN in F. The Mel to SYD part is in economy. I tried to discuss that and refunding the exorbitant EK fees but the person became flustered so I decided to take the partial win (F from SYD to SIN). I will call back later today to discuss the other parts that are still open.
As mentioned in the post:
“ Emirates will continue to codeshare with Qantas on the route.”
So, wouldn’t that be the obvious solution?
How can they say that there is no alternative when the same route can still be booked under EK flight number?
Not a huge loss as a Melburnian. SQ is still my go to choice on that route with up to 5 daily departures. EK are bringing in a 3rd daily nonstop flight between MEL and DXB which is great for competition and fares
Exactly right - in the grand scheme, this is not a huge loss to the route. SQ operates five times daily, QF twice, Jetstar and Scoot both have a daily service too.