Airbus A310

The Airbus A310 is a sound aircraft that ended up with a weak record, mostly because of who flew it and how. Up to 7 October 2026 it has had 11 fatal events, 8 of which count, in about 3.2 million passenger flights. Nearly every counted crash came down to crew actions, training or airline practices rather than a design fault. Few A310s still carry passengers.

Where the A310 flies today

The A310 is a shortened A300 with a new wing, first flown in 1982 and in service from 1983. It was one of the first widebodies with a two-pilot glass cockpit, and the A310-300 added a fuel tank in the tail for longer range. Airbus built 255.

About 30 remain in service. In passenger service the A310 now flies mainly in Iran, with Mahan Air and Iran Air, whose fleets are old because US sanctions block new aircraft and limit spare parts. Mahan's A310s were built in 1990 and 1991. The rest of the survivors are freighters, air force tankers and transports, and government aircraft.

What counts and what does not

We count fatal accidents on passenger flights against passenger flight numbers. A cargo or military crash would be left out because our flight counts cover passenger service only; none of the A310's fatal events was a cargo flight, but freighters now make up much of the remaining fleet. Three attacks are excluded: hijackings at Singapore in 1991 and Niamey in 1993, and gunfire that killed a passenger on a PIA A310 landing at Peshawar in 2014. Our methodology explains the rules.

The eight counted accidents

Loss of control or flight into terrain.

• 31 July 1992, Thai Airways 311: hit high ground north of Kathmandu. All 113 died.
• 23 March 1994, Aeroflot 593: the captain's children in the left seat partly overrode the autopilot over Siberia; the aircraft stalled and spun. All 75 died.
• 31 March 1995, Tarom 371, Bucharest: uneven thrust after take-off, a captain who may have been incapacitated, and a first officer who did not correct it. All 60 died.
• 11 December 1998, Thai Airways 261, Surat Thani: a third approach in rain below the minimum visibility ended in a stall. 101 of 146 died.
• 30 January 2000, Kenya Airways 431, Abidjan: a stall warning sounded on a night take-off over the sea although the aircraft was not stalling, and the pilot pushed the nose down into the water. 169 of 179 died.
• 30 June 2009, Yemenia 626, Moroni: a night circling approach in gusty wind ended in the sea. 152 of 153 died.

Runway overrunsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary with a disabled thrust reverser.

• 9 July 2006, S7 Airlines 778, Irkutsk: with the left reverser switched off under the minimum equipment list, the captain accidentally pushed the left throttle forward on landing, which cancelled the spoilers and autobrake. 125 of 203 died.
• 10 June 2008, Sudan Airways, Khartoum: a long touchdown on a wet runway with a tailwind, no autobrake and one reverser switched off. 30 of 214 died.

What the pattern says

The A310 has no single recurring design flaw like a rudder or fuel tank problem. What repeats is crews losing track of what the automation and thrust were doing, and airlines that did not train for upsets or that flew with deferred defects. Several of these operators had weak oversight at the time. Compare the A310 with the Boeing 767, its closest rival, which flew far more flights with fewer counted crashes per flight.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show A310 for every version. It looks like a shorter A300, with two engines under the wing and twin aisles. If you are booked on one, you are almost certainly flying with an Iranian airline, and the airline's maintenance and sanctions situation is the bigger question.