9 Air

Is 9 Air safe?

Yes, on the record it has. 9 Air, the low-cost airline Juneyao set up in Guangzhou in 2014, has had no fatal accident and has never lost an aircraft. It flies 27 Boeing 737s at an average age of about 9 years. We score it 81, three points below its parent Juneyao Airlines and below Spring Airlines, China's biggest low-cost airline.

The gap comes from three things. The record is clean but short. 9 Air is not on IATA's registry of airlines that passed the IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary safety audit (we searched it on 28 October 2026). And China's regulator publishes so little about incidents that a short list says less than it would for a European airline.

What is 9 Air?

9 Air is wholly owned by Juneyao Airlines, a private Shanghai airline, and flies under its own IATA code AQ and ICAO code JYH on its own operating certificate. Juneyao's interim report says it is the only passenger airline other than China Southern that uses Guangzhou as its main base. In the first half of 2026 it flew more than 110 routes, carried 3.67 million passengers and filled about 91% of its seats.

Because 9 Air flies as itself, its record is its own. Juneyao's page describes 9 Air but does not count its events, and nothing on Juneyao's record is counted here.

Has 9 Air had any accidents or incidents?

No accidents are on record. The most serious known event came on 1 March 2022. Flight AQ1305, a 737-800 from Guangzhou to Yichang with 105 people on board, got a cargo smoke warning at cruise, about 130 nautical miles south of Changsha. The crew diverted and landed about half an hour later, and passengers left by the slides on the taxiway. The regulator found three bags in the hold with burn marks and did not rule out banned items such as batteries in passenger luggage. That points to a passenger, not the airline, but the crew's quick diversion is the response you would want.

Beyond that, the public record is almost empty. AeroInside, which carries the Aviation Herald's reports, lists only that one event. That could mean 9 Air has few incidents. It could also mean the CAAC, which publishes few investigation reports, simply has not made them public. We score incidents at 74 rather than at the top for that reason.

Juneyao's 2026 interim report adds one detail. It says 9 Air ran a special improvement plan in the first half of 2026: a full review of its safety management system, clearer safety duties between departments, and new training and operating standards. The report does not say what led to it.

What does 9 Air fly?

Only the Boeing 737. At 30 June 2026 it had 27, according to Juneyao's report: 3 owned at an average of 9.36 years, 3 on finance lease at 3.39 years and 21 on operating lease at 9.76 years. That works out to about 9.0 years overall by our calculation. Most are 737-800s with 189 seats. The three young jets on finance lease are newer, but the report groups all of them as "B737 series" and does not say how many are 737 MAX 8s.

A single type keeps training and maintenance simple, and 9 years is younger than most of China's big airlines. But the 737-800 is an older design without fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls, so the fleet scores 78, below Juneyao's all-Airbus and 787 fleet at 86. Each 9 Air jet flew 11.66 hours a day in the first half of 2026, against 8.73 hours for Juneyao's A320s.

How safe is flying in and out of Guangzhou?

Guangzhou Baiyun is one of China's biggest and best-equipped airports. The weather is the bigger factor. South China gets frequent thunderstorms from spring to autumn and typhoons in summer, which bring delays, holding and bumpy approaches. Some 9 Air routes run into the hillier provinces of central and south-west China.

How to fly 9 Air safely

• Check the code. AQ flight numbers are 9 Air; HO numbers are Juneyao, a different airline with a different fleet.
• Pack spare power banks and loose lithium batteries in your cabin bag, never in checked luggage. The 2022 smoke event started in the hold, where a crew cannot reach a fire.
• In the summer storm season, keep your seat belt fastened whenever you are seated. Short flights out of Guangzhou often climb through convective weather.
• Flights run about 90% full, so put your bag in the locker quickly and sit down. A low-cost airline with full flights has little slack if an evacuation is needed, and that is when cabin bags in the aisle cost time.

How we scored it

The accident record (88) is clean, but it covers only about 11 years. Oversight (76) is held down because 9 Air is not on the IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary registry, four points below Chinese airlines that are. The fleet (78) is young but made up of older-design 737s. Incidents (74) are not scored as clean because the CAAC publishes so little. Overall 81.