Air Thanlwin

Is Air Thanlwin safe?

Its accident record is clean, its aircraft are not young. Air Thanlwin, the domestic Myanmar airline called Yangon Airways until 2019, has no fatal accident and no written-off aircraft on record in the last 20 years. But two of its four ATR 72 turboprops were delivered in 1996, it has no 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 audit, and it flies only inside a country at war. We score it 67, close to Mingalar (68) and below Mann Yadanarpon (70), which flies newer ATRs.

From Yangon Airways to Air Thanlwin

Yangon Airways was already flying in 1996, when its first ATR 72s arrived new. In September 2019 the Department of Civil Aviation said it would be renamed Air Thanlwin from 1 October, after the Thanlwin (Salween) river. The airline kept its aircraft and its Yangon base, so we count Yangon Airways' record here. Its codes changed with the name: it now flies as ST (IATA) and RTL (ICAO), with the call sign "ROYAL BIRD", which matches the hintha, a legendary royal bird, in its logo.

Air Thanlwin is still flying. In March 2026, when a jet fuel shortage grounded much of Myanmar's domestic network, it briefly stopped selling Yangon–Myeik tickets; the transport ministry then named it among the airlines that resumed full schedules on 25 March. In July 2026 it was one of four airlines scheduled to serve the new Anisakan airport near Pyin Oo Lwin.

A clean record, with gaps in what is known

The Aviation Safety Network lists no accident for either name in our 20-year window. Few domestic Myanmar airlines can say that: Myanmar National Airlines wrote off four aircraft in that time, and the old Air Bagan crashed near Heho in 2012. The airline itself claims "many years without a single accident or incident".

The incident record is thinner than that claim. In July 2018 a Yangon Airways ATR 72-200 climbing out of Mandalay for Myitkyina returned after the crew found a crack in the right windshield; it landed safely with 31 people on board. On 2 July 2025, flight ST-739 from Yangon to Tachileik lost the honeycomb panel on its right wing and landed safely at Tachileik. Eleven Myanmar reported that an inspection found the panel area was not connected to the pressurised cabin, and the airline said the aircraft, crew and passengers were never at risk; no injuries were reported. Neither the airline nor the report gave a cause. The aircraft was inspected under the Department of Civil Aviation's airworthiness guidance and the manufacturer's, and Air Thanlwin apologised to passengers for the delay. A part lost in flight is a maintenance warning on an ageing fleet, but no authority has called it a serious incident, so it weighs lightly. Myanmar publishes few investigation reports, so incidents score 60, slightly below its peers.

Our accident score is 85: no deaths or losses in about 30 years, on a fleet of four turboprops with few flights a day.

The oldest fleet among Myanmar's airlines

The fleet is the weak point. Air Thanlwin flies two ATR 72-200s and two ATR 72-500s, all with about 70 seats. The -200s came new to Yangon Airways in 1996, so they are about 30 years old, and they are the older ATR variant with analogue instruments. The two -500s were built in 2008 for the Irish airline Aer Arann and reached Myanmar second-hand; one also flew for MNA. That puts the average age at about 24 years, against about 13 for Mann Yadanarpon's ATR 72-600s.

An old ATR is not unsafe in itself: the ATR 72 family has a long record on short regional runways, and age matters less than maintenance. But Air Thanlwin publishes nothing about its maintenance, and it has no outside audit such as 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 to check it. The fleet scores 45.

Oversight and the war

Air Thanlwin is not an IATA member, and we found no IOSA registrationIOSAThe 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, so oversight scores 65, the same as Mingalar. No Myanmar airline is on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary, Myanmar is not on the FAA's IASAFAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary list, and we could not see the country's latest ICAO audit result.

The environment scores 42. Its routes run from Yangon to the southern coast (Myeik, Dawei, Kawthaung, Mawlamyine) and north to Mandalay, Heho, Tachileik and Myitkyina. A drone hit a Myanmar National Airlines ATR boarding at Myitkyina in February 2026, and drones attacked Mandalay airport in September. EASA's Information Note asks airlines to weigh the risk in all Myanmar airspace below FL260, which covers every flight Air Thanlwin makes.

Before you fly Air Thanlwin

• Ask which aircraft flies your route. If a 30-year-old -200 matters to you, the newer ATR 72-600s of Mann Yadanarpon or MNA fly many of the same routes, including Yangon–Dawei, where the three airlines began sharing flights as "Fly Alliance" in 2022.
• Plan for fuel and airport closures. In 2026 jet fuel shortages and drone attacks cancelled domestic flights at short notice. Confirm your flight the day before, as the airline itself advises.
• Keep a spare day before international connections in Yangon, especially in the May–October monsoon.

How we scored it

The accident record (85) is the strongest factor: no deaths and no aircraft lost on record in 20 years. The fleet (45) is the weakest, with half of it about 30 years old. Oversight (65) lacks an 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 audit, incidents (60) reflect a thin public record and a wing panel lost in flight in 2025, and the environment (42) reflects the civil war.