Qantas delays launch of Singapore-Darwin route to March 2025

The Northern Territory’s lack of airline luck has struck punters once again, with Qantas canning flights for their new Darwin-Singapore route. Find out why.

The launch of a new Qantas route between Darwin and Singapore has been pushed back by months, with the airline telling customers on Thursday it was cancelling their flights due to “operational and network scheduling” reasons.

Announced in January this year, the direct service was due to take off on December 9, but has been delayed to late March next year.

Qantas confirmed to the NT News that affected customers would be contacted with their options, including a full refund.

Darwin retiree Tom Sawyer was booked on one of the cancelled flights in January, returning to the Top End from a family holiday in Bangkok via Singapore.

“I’ve now got a ticket on a connecting flight, with no plane when I get there,” he said.

“Airfares out of Darwin are prohibitively expensive, and they’ve got this terrible habit of cancelling them.

“Reliability is essential because you’re often trying to get that connecting flight.”

Take off for Qantas now route to Singapore has been pushed back from December to March. Picture: Supplied/Qantas

Meanwhile more seats will be added to Qantas’ domestic flights in and out of the Territory between October and March, representing a 21 per cent increase in capacity on flights for the Top End compared with last year.

An additional 20,000 seats will be added between Darwin and Melbourne, made possible by

upgrading the Embraer E190 to a Boeing 737 to operate on the route over

the five-month period.

Flights to Perth will also be upgraded from Airbus A320 to the 737, offering customers the choice of travelling in business class on the route.

An extra 5000 seats will be added on Darwin flights in the weeks leading up to Christmas, including to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Alice Springs.