How safe are China’s airlines? Spring Airlines earns the country’s first Seven Star PLUS

Travellers outside China once approached the country’s airlines with caution, yet China’s carriers have built a strong safety record as air travel there has boomed. Before China Eastern flight MU5735 crashed in March 2022, the country’s airlines had flown more than 100 million hours in a row without a fatal accident. China’s regulator also holds a Category 1 rating from the US Federal Aviation Administration, and no Chinese airline appears on the EU Air Safety List.

Spring Airlines has now become the first airline in mainland China to earn the AirlineRatings Seven Star PLUS Safety Rating. China’s largest low-cost carrier was also the first mainland airline to put its cabin crew through our independent onboard cabin safety audit, earning the Seven Star Safety Rating after its first audit in September 2025 before returning this year to achieve the step up to PLUS. The rating is valid for two years and requires a further audit before it expires.

The result comes at a telling moment for the country’s airlines, with Air China dropping to six stars this month and China Eastern remaining on five while the investigation into MU5735 is still open.

China’s safety record over the past 20 years

Mainland China has had two fatal airline accidents in the past two decades. On 24 August 2010, Henan Airlines flight 8387, an Embraer E190, crashed on approach to Yichun in low visibility, killing 44 of the 96 people on board. On 21 March 2022, MU5735 dived into a hillside in Guangxi on a flight from Kunming to Guangzhou, killing all 132 people on board in the country’s deadliest air disaster in decades.

Several other serious events ended without loss of life. In May 2018, the cockpit windshield of Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8633 blew out at cruising altitude on the way from Chongqing to Lhasa, partly pulling the co-pilot out of the aircraft before Captain Liu Chuanjian landed the A319 safely in Chengdu, a story later turned into the 2019 film The Captain. In May 2022, a Tibet Airlines A319 left the runway and caught fire during an aborted take-off at Chongqing, and all 122 people on board got out with around 40 treated for minor injuries. In October 2025, a passenger’s lithium battery caught fire in an overhead locker on Air China flight CA139 from Hangzhou to Incheon, and the crew put out the fire before the aircraft diverted safely to Shanghai.

Airlines that have never had a fatal crash

Several of China’s airlines have never had a fatal accident in their history. Spring Airlines joins Hainan Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Shandong Airlines on that list, with Hainan standing out for keeping a clean record since it first flew in 1993 while growing into China’s fourth largest airline by fleet size.

How China’s main airlines rate for safety

Most of China’s major airlines hold the full seven stars, but the two exceptions are among the country’s biggest names. Air China lost its seventh star on 21 October after a member of our team flew CA848 from London Gatwick to Shanghai Pudong and watched the crew allow a passenger to charge a device from a power bank, then leave passengers standing in the aisles and galley through sustained turbulence. Those are the same two areas where Spring’s crew impressed, which shows how far cabin practice can vary between airlines from the same country.

China Eastern has held five stars since MU5735 crashed. US recorder data released this year points to a deliberate act in the cockpit, and while we don’t normally deduct stars for pilot suicide, the rating stays at five because the Civil Aviation Administration of China has still not published a final report more than four years on. We will review it once that report appears.

What the audit found on Spring

The audit covered six flights between 20 and 23 October 2026, including Spring’s international route between Shanghai and Jeju in South Korea along with domestic services from Shanghai to Chongqing, Shijiazhuang and Jieyang on A320 and A321 aircraft.

Crew carried out thorough cabin checks before take-off and landing, often with two crew members walking the aisle together, and followed every turbulence event with an announcement so passengers understood why the seatbelt sign had come on. Power bank safety came up clearly on every flight. Exit row passengers received a detailed briefing before departure along with a reminder of their responsibilities before landing, which is a second briefing that very few airlines give.

‘Spring Airlines has made impressive progress in onboard safety over the past year, and the professionalism of its cabin crew stood out on every flight. Crews managed busy cabins calmly and kept safety at the centre of everything they did, from detailed exit row briefings to careful pre-departure and pre-landing checks, across both its domestic network and its regional international route. Spring Airlines earns the Seven Star PLUS Safety Rating in recognition of that consistency and the work the entire airline has put in,’ said Josh Wood, AirlineRatings Safety and Service Quality Manager.

What we see in the cabin

Spring’s result shows that a strong cabin safety culture comes down to crew being willing to step in, whether that means asking a passenger to stop charging a phone from a power bank or walking the aisle to make sure everyone is seated when the aircraft starts to shake. Those moments can feel awkward for crew trained to put the passenger first, which is exactly why airlines need procedures and training that back their crew when they have to be firm.

Sharon Petersen, AirlineRatings VP of Airline Partnerships, said Spring’s quick response to the first audit showed what the programme is designed to achieve.

‘Spring is a great example of what our audits can bring to the industry, and ultimately to the passengers and crew who fly with every airline. Spring already held a great safety rating, but there was room for improvement, as there is at every airline. What impresses us so much about Spring is how quickly it made changes and put them into practice, which is what putting safety first looks like, and we applaud the airline for it. Spring ranked 19th in our World’s Safest Low-Cost Airlines for 2026, and its open approach to cabin safety, combined with meticulous processes at a maintenance level, puts it in a strong position to earn a place among the world’s best again in 2027. Congratulations to everyone at Spring Airlines.’