Malaysia’s Firefly cancels flights to Singapore over transboundary haze

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters. Published On 13 Oct 202613 Oct 2026.

Key points

• IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring firm, stated Air Quality Index in Singapore stood at 199 on Tuesday and 183 in Kuala Lumpur.
• According to Firefly, affected passengers were being rebooked on Malaysia Airlines flights between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Singapore's Changi Airport, subject to seat availability.
• Mohamad, the Malaysian minister, remarked Indonesia had deployed concerning 60, 000 personnel to fight the fires, but thick smoke had grounded 34 aircraft, including planes and helicopters.
• "It's in the agenda, " Dominic Xavier Imperial, a spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, remarked of the November gathering.
• The announcement came as IQAir, an air quality monitor, ranked Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as the world's two most polluted cities on Tuesday.

Firefly, a Malaysian low-cost airline, has extended the suspension of its flights between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore through Wednesday as smoke from fires in Indonesia continued to blanket the region.

Meanwhile, the announcement came as IQAir, an air quality monitor, ranked Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as the world's two most polluted cities on Tuesday.

Firefly remarked in an official note that flights between the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB) near Kuala Lumpur and the Seletar Airport in Singapore (XSP) have been cancelled up to Wednesday due to "weather and haze conditions". It called the action a "proactive safety measure".

For context, the fires, mostly on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, are the country's most intense in 11 years. They have been spurred by El Nino, a weather pattern projected to be among the strongest in four decades.

IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring firm, stated Air Quality Index in Singapore stood at 199 on Tuesday and 183 in Kuala Lumpur. Readings above 150 are generally considered unhealthy, and those above 300 are classified as hazardous.

Firefly, a subsidiary of Malaysia Aviation Group. It includes Malaysia Airlines, first confirmed the flight cancellations on October 10, citing "low visibility" due to the haze conditions.

As it last did in 2015, when smoke from Indonesian fires hung over the region for weeks, the Singapore administration has reintroduced subsidised care for haze-related illnesses.

In Malaysia, schools reopened in most states on Tuesday as air quality improved slightly, but they remain closed in three states, one federal territory and a number of districts.

Malaysia's foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, remarked on Monday that he would press for stronger regional mechanisms when foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet next month.

"We already have an ASEAN mechanism for natural disasters, but haze is not included or classified as a natural disaster, " he remarked to journalists in Sepang, according to Bernama, Malaysia's state news agency.

Meanwhile, the Philippines, which chairs the bloc this year, confirmed that the matter would be on the agenda.

"It's in the agenda, " Dominic Xavier Imperial, a spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, remarked of the November gathering. It will precede the 49th ASEAN summit in Manila.

Remote terrain and limited water supplies have additionally hindered the effort, he stated, and cloud seeding is not feasible without suitable rain clouds. He acknowledged Indonesia's efforts but pressed more effective action, citing the toll on Malaysian communities.

In short, malaysia's Firefly cancels flights to Singapore over transboundary haze is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.