Thousands of travelers moving through Singapore and major Asia Pacific hubs are facing fresh uncertainty after a new wave of disruptions rippled across the region’s air network on February 10, 2026. A combination of operational issues and weather related congestion has led to airlines including United Airlines and Air Japan grounding selected long haul and regional flights, temporarily stranding passengers as far afield as San Francisco, Tokyo, Jakarta and other key gateways. The latest delays and cancellations come on top of an already tense winter travel period in Asia, and they are once again testing the resilience of Singapore’s role as a regional connector.
Fresh Disruptions Cascade Across Asian and Transpacific Routes
The newest round of flight disruptions emerged as Asian airports reported thousands of delays and dozens of cancellations within just a 24 hour window. Data compiled on February 10 shows nearly four thousand delays and close to eighty cancellations affecting services in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, India, Indonesia and Hong Kong. This follows an even larger wave of disruption a day earlier, when almost five thousand delays and more than four hundred cancellations were registered across Asia and the Middle East, impacting routes through Tokyo, Bangkok, Delhi, Jakarta, Dubai, Istanbul and other major hubs.
For travelers bound to or from Singapore, the knock on effects were immediate. Singapore Changi Airport registered several hundred delays on February 10, as aircraft and crews were held up at origin airports. Connections that normally knit together North America, Europe and Southeast Asia via Changi began to fray as late inbound flights missed their scheduled departure windows and airlines scrambled to rebook passengers. Even in cases where flights were not outright cancelled, extended ground holds left many travelers stuck on the tarmac or in crowded terminals, unsure whether they would make onward connections to regional destinations.
The situation was particularly acute on popular transpacific and Northeast Asia routes. Tokyo Haneda and Jakarta Soekarno Hatta both ranked among the most delay affected airports over the past forty eight hours, which in turn affected aircraft rotations serving Singapore. With so many flights running behind schedule at multiple nodes, airlines had little slack in the system to recover quickly, prompting some carriers to proactively ground or consolidate certain services rather than risk additional rolling delays.
United Airlines and Air Japan Among Carriers Forced to Ground Flights
United Airlines, already under scrutiny in recent months after a series of high profile operational incidents, has been one of the carriers most visibly affected in the current disruption cycle. The carrier’s transpacific operations rely heavily on complex long haul rotations that connect US hubs such as San Francisco and Washington with Japan and Southeast Asia. When flights run late or aircraft come out of service unexpectedly, the ripple effects can spread across several continents within a day.
In this latest episode, United grounded a portion of its long haul schedule, including at least one service touching San Francisco that was due to connect via East Asia to Singapore. Passengers reported extended waits at departure gates while ground staff attempted to source replacement aircraft or crew, and in several cases frustrated travelers were given overnight vouchers after their flights were ultimately scrubbed. For those with onward itineraries to Singapore or regional cities such as Jakarta and Bangkok, rebooking options were constrained by the broader traffic snarls afflicting the region.
Air Japan, a key operator of regional and medium haul routes from Tokyo, has also had to ground selected flights as congestion built at Haneda and other Japanese airports. With Tokyo Haneda registering hundreds of delays and at least one cancellation on February 10 alone, Air Japan and its partners prioritized core domestic and trunk regional services, leading to the cancellation or consolidation of some international sectors. Travelers bound from Tokyo to Southeast Asian destinations, including Singapore and Indonesia, encountered last minute gate changes, rolling departure times and, in some cases, outright cancellations with limited alternative options on the same day.
Other Asian carriers, among them low cost and full service airlines operating out of Vietnam, Thailand and India, have faced similar constraints. While many of these disruptions are not directly linked to Singapore, the cumulative impact reduces available seats and schedule flexibility for passengers attempting to reach or leave the city state, particularly those booked on multi segment itineraries via intermediate hubs.
Stranded in San Francisco, Tokyo, Jakarta and Beyond
The human impact of the disruptions has been most visible in terminals from San Francisco to Tokyo and Jakarta, where passengers abruptly found their flights grounded with limited notice. At San Francisco International Airport, travelers booked on a United Airlines service destined for Asia described watching their scheduled departure times slip backward repeatedly before gate agents confirmed a cancellation. Some passengers had already endured domestic positioning flights before reaching San Francisco, only to discover that their onward transpacific leg would not operate.
In Tokyo, where Haneda has been operating near capacity for much of the winter season, congestion has compounded the effect of grounded Air Japan and partner services. Travelers connecting from domestic Japanese cities or arriving from North America found departure boards filled with “delayed” notices and only sketchy explanations about the underlying causes. As departure banks stretched further into the night, airport hotels around Haneda reported elevated occupancy from stranded passengers holding rebooked flights the following morning or afternoon.
Jakarta Soekarno Hatta, already named among the region’s most disruption affected airports over the past two days, has seen particularly long queues at transfer and ticketing counters. Passengers en route to or from Singapore via Jakarta have encountered missed connections when inbound flights arrived hours behind schedule. For some, this has turned relatively straightforward journeys into multi day odysseys involving rerouting through alternative hubs such as Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok or even Dubai as airlines try to move people around the bottlenecks.
These localized stories share a common thread. When several major hubs simultaneously experience high levels of delay and cancellation, the resilience of the region’s network quickly erodes. Even travelers whose flights technically remain “on schedule” can find themselves stranded when their inbound aircraft or connecting passengers are stuck somewhere else in the system.
Singapore’s Hub Role Magnifies the Impact on Global Travelers
Singapore’s position as one of Asia’s most important connecting hubs means that disruptions originating in distant markets quickly reverberate through Changi’s terminals. On February 10, the airport registered several hundred delays as aircraft and crews inbound from severely affected airports such as Ho Chi Minh City, Tokyo and Jakarta arrived well behind schedule. While most services to and from Singapore continued to operate, the late arrivals compressed turnaround times and limited airlines’ ability to maintain punctuality on subsequent legs.
For global travelers, this matters because Singapore often serves as a critical bridge between long haul flights from Europe, the Middle East or North America and short haul connections to secondary cities across Southeast Asia and Australasia. A delay of just ninety minutes on a transpacific arrival from San Francisco or a Northeast Asia service from Tokyo can cause passengers to miss their onward flights to destinations such as Bali, Penang or Perth. When multiple routes encounter such slippages at once, rebooking options rapidly diminish and same day recovery becomes difficult.
Travelers currently planning itineraries through Singapore should therefore be aware that even if their specific flight appears unaffected, they may still encounter delays due to knock on effects from other parts of the network. Airlines at Changi may need to swap aircraft between routes, adjust departure times at short notice or prioritize flights with the highest load factors. As a result, the usual reputation of Singapore for near clockwork precision has, at least temporarily, given way to a more fluid and uncertain operating environment.
Operational Strains and Weather Combine to Challenge Airlines
The latest disruptions highlight how a combination of operational strain and seasonal weather can quickly overwhelm even sophisticated airline and airport systems. Across Asia, February often brings a mix of winter storms in northern regions, fog and low visibility events and convective weather in tropical zones, any of which can reduce runway capacity and slow down air traffic control operations. When such conditions arise at already busy airports like Tokyo Haneda or Jakarta, delays can quickly cascade through departure and arrival banks.
At the same time, airlines are operating with limited spare capacity after several years of tight fleet planning and strong post pandemic demand. Many carriers, including United Airlines and a number of Asian operators, are still waiting on delayed aircraft deliveries or have airframes in extended maintenance as they address earlier technical issues or cabin refurbishments. When a single widebody aircraft goes out of service unexpectedly, there is often no immediate replacement available within the fleet, particularly on long haul routes linking North America and Asia.
Against this backdrop, the decision to ground four flights across multiple airlines can be seen as a risk management measure rather than a sign of systemic failure. By pulling specific flights from the schedule, carriers aim to stabilize the broader operation, free up aircraft and crew for the highest priority routes and prevent further uncontrolled delays from rippling through the network. For the affected passengers, however, that strategic choice translates into missed business meetings, canceled holidays and stressful hours spent in line or on customer service hotlines.
How Travelers Can Navigate Singapore’s Current Travel Turbulence
For travelers with upcoming itineraries that include Singapore or regional hubs such as Tokyo, Bangkok, Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh City, the current disruptions are a reminder to build more resilience into their plans. The most basic step is to allow additional connection time when booking multi segment journeys. While a sixty or ninety minute connection might be sufficient in normal conditions, recent delay patterns in Asia suggest that a two to three hour buffer can greatly improve the odds of making onward flights, particularly when departing from heavily congested airports.
Travelers should also ensure that airlines have up to date contact details in their bookings and that mobile apps are installed and logged in well before departure day. Carriers such as United Airlines, Air Japan and many Asian partners are increasingly using push notifications to alert passengers to gate changes, revisions in departure times and automatic rebookings when flights are grounded. Those who rely solely on departure boards within the airport may learn of changes later than those receiving direct digital updates.
Finally, passengers should prepare for the possibility of overnight disruption, especially when flying through hubs like San Francisco or Tokyo late in the day. Packing essential medications, a change of clothes and basic toiletries in carry on luggage can ease the strain if a sudden cancellation prevents access to checked bags. Understanding in advance the airline’s policy on hotel vouchers, meal allowances and rebooking rights can also help travelers make informed decisions about whether to accept rerouting or wait for the next available direct service.
Outlook: Continued Volatility but Gradual Normalization Expected
Looking ahead, aviation analysts expect that the extraordinary peaks in delay and cancellation numbers seen across Asia in recent days are likely to moderate as weather patterns stabilize and airlines fine tune their schedules. However, the underlying structural pressures in the region’s air travel system remain. Fleet shortages, high demand, crew rostering complexities and infrastructure constraints at several key airports mean that volatility will likely persist through the remainder of the winter and into the early spring travel period.
For Singapore specifically, its status as a preferred connecting hub will continue to magnify both the risks and opportunities associated with this environment. On one hand, disruptions at distant airports will keep sending wave after wave of schedule shocks into Changi, making flawless operations hard to achieve. On the other hand, Singapore’s strong ground handling infrastructure, experienced air traffic management and deep airline partnerships position it better than many regional competitors to absorb and manage irregular operations when they occur.
In the near term, travelers should expect that sporadic groundings of individual flights by carriers such as United Airlines, Air Japan and other operators will remain part of the landscape, especially on complex long haul or multi leg routes. Those willing to build extra flexibility into their plans, stay closely informed through airline communication channels and maintain realistic expectations about potential delays are likely to fare best as the region’s air transport system works its way through this latest period of stress.