Qantas reroutes Perth–London flight via Singapore amid Middle East airspace disruption
March 4, 2026
Australian flag carrier Qantas has announced it will suspend its flagship non-stop Australia to UK flights from 4 March as the carrier struggles with Middle Eastern airspace closures. The flights from Perth to London will now route through Singapore, adding around three hours to the overall travel time from Western Australia to the UK.
Qantas adds Singapore stopover to Perth-London flights
Qantas announced on 3 March that it was suspending its flagship non-stop flight between Perth and London due to continuing airspace closures and security concerns across the Middle East.
Instead, the flights between Perth International Airport (PER) and London Heathrow (LHR), which operate as QF9, will make a brief stopover at Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), allowing the aircraft to upload extra fuel for the protracted route across the Middle Eastern airspace and onward to Europe.
“QF9 from Perth to London may operate via Singapore for a fuel stop due to adjustments required on flight paths. There are no other impacts to Qantas-operated flights, including flights between Singapore and London,” said an airline statement.
Flight QF9 is normally scheduled to depart from Perth at 19:15 local time in the evening and land at London Heathrow at 05:05 the following morning. The flight routinely takes around 17 hours to complete and is operated by the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
Middle East conflict forces longer flight path for Qantas Perth–London service
Until recently, the Perth–London service typically departed Western Australia and tracked west across the Indian Ocean before entering a carefully managed corridor through the Middle East. From there, the flight would pass over Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, before continuing across the eastern Mediterranean and mainland Europe on its final approach into London.
Since the outbreak of the Iran war five days ago, however, the routing has shifted significantly to avoid Iranian airspace and nearby conflict zones. Instead of crossing the Middle East, the aircraft has been flying a far more easterly track, routing over India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan before turning west toward Europe.
The longer path has increased flight times and forced the airline to impose payload restrictions. To carry the additional fuel required for the extended routing, the aircraft has had to limit both passenger numbers and cargo on the service.
The flights over the past few days have been taking around another 30-45 minutes to complete the nonstop journey due to the revised routing.
QF9 will make a fuel stop in Singapore
From the departure scheduled for 4 March, the airline will reroute the flight via a stopover in Singapore, adding at least three hours to the journey time of the non-stop service and making the total journey time around 20-21 hours.
While the additional time will be added, the payload restrictions will no longer apply, as the Perth to Singapore and the Singapore to London legs are all well within the capabilities of the Boeing 787-9. This should allow for around a further 60 revenue passengers to be accommodated on each flight.
Qantas has said that it may have to adjust the departure from Perth to an earlier time to meet the allocated arrival slot at London Heathrow. Travellers are being urged to monitor their bookings via the Qantas website or app and contact support only if departing within the next 48 hours.
Additionally, the flight number QF9 will be discontinued for the time being, to be replaced by QF209 – an ad hoc flight number that is used when the non-stop QF9 flight cannot operate.
Qantas Perth-London: Australia’s only nonstop link to the UK
Qantas has operated its QF9 service from Perth to London Heathrow (one of the world’s longest commercial flights) since March 2018. The flight has been subject to diversions and cancellations in the past due to Middle Eastern airspace closures and disruptions. The route was also closed down indefinitely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For those who live in Western Australia, the route has provided a key link between Australia and Europe without the need for a two-stop journey through Sydney or with an intermediate stop in a third country.
According to the West Australian, the reason it has taken several days for the flights to be rerouted via Singapore was to allow the airline to relocate the requisite crews to Singapore and London to operate the flights via the Asian gateway.
Qantas has indicated that the stopover in Singapore is a temporary measure and the situation remains under constant review.
Middle East airspace closures continue to disrupt flights
With numerous flights to, from and transiting across the Middle Eastern region disrupted, this move by Qantas to keep its Perth to London route flying will be welcomed by passengers, despite the additional time it will take to reach their destination.
Other airlines have not been able reroute services, with many dozens of flights being cancelled and thousands of passengers stranded as a result.
While some countries are organising evacuation flights for their citizens, Australia is not currently one of them, instead preferring to wait for other airlines to resume services, which is beginning to happen on a piecemeal basis.
Qantas, in the meantime, continues to operate its daily Airbus A380 service from Sydney to London Heathrow, also with a technical stopover in Singapore.
Featured image: Michul Aviation / Wikimedia Commons
