AirBorneo

Is AirBorneo safe?

Mostly, but its record is weaker than Malaysia's main airlines. AirBorneo is new in name only: on 1 January 2026 the Sarawak state government's airline took over MASwings, its routes, its 14 turboprops and the air operator certificate MASwings held. That certificate carries a fatal crash at Kudat in 2013, which killed two people, and a series of runway excursionsRunway 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 on short jungle strips, one of which led investigators to criticise the airline's procedures. We score it 62.

AirBorneo flies the federal Rural Air Services network across Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan, where for many villages the plane is the only quick way out. For a visitor heading to Bario, it is often the only choice.

Why MASwings' record counts here

Under our rules the operating certificate decides which page an accident belongs to, not the brand on the tail. When Sarawak bought MASwings, Sarawak's deputy transport minister said the airline would keep flying under the existing air service licence and air operator certificate MASwings held. Malaysia Aviation Group handed over "full legal and operational responsibility" on 1 January 2026, and AirBorneo's first flights, Kuching to Mukah and Tanjung Manis, followed within days. The FAA's designator list still shows the ICAO code MWG under MASwings. So the MASwings record from the last 20 years counts on this page.

For the same reason, the 2013 crash does not count against Malaysia Airlines, even though passengers had bought it as MH3002.

The Kudat crash, 2013

On 10 October 2013 a Twin Otter, 9M-MDM, was flying from Kota Kinabalu to Kudat with 14 passengers and two pilots. Kudat reported a west wind of 17 knots gusting to 31. The crew found a strong tailwind on the approach to runway 04, went around, and tried runway 22 with full flap. About 20 feet above the runway a gust swung the aircraft to the right; the go-around that followed did not climb, and the aircraft hit trees and a house beside the airfield. The co-pilot and one passenger died, and Malaysia's Air Accident Investigation Bureau published its final report.

It was the only fatal accident on the certificate, but not the only damaging one. In November 2012 a Twin Otter ran off the runway on landing at Marudi. Aviation Safety Network entries built from news reports also describe damaging landings at Ba'kelalan in 2008 and at Lawas in 2011, where the nose gear collapsed; with no investigation report behind them, we describe them but do not score them. Nobody died in any of these. The accident record scores 62, near the bottom of the band for one fatal accident in 15 years, because the Kudat crash destroyed the aircraft on a small, low-volume network.

Runway excursions keep coming back

Inside our 10-year window for incidents, the pattern continued. On 7 January 2020 Twin Otter 9M-SSE, flight MH3517 from Lawas, veered off the side of the runway at Miri soon after touchdown and stopped in waterlogged grass 40 metres away. Nobody was hurt. The AAIB found the crew had not centred the nosewheel steering before landing. It also found the airline's checklists and procedures had never been adapted for flying the type with two pilots, that type training gave the steering system too little attention, and that the operator had a history of similar veer-offs, including two in 2015 and 2016. It made nine recommendations. Four months later, on 9 May 2020, another Twin Otter ran off the strip at Long Seridan, and on 31 May an ATR returned to Miri with smoke in the cabin.

We found no serious incident in AirBorneo's first ten months. The network did suffer from reliability problems: technical groundings of several ATRs and Twin Otters, blamed on unscheduled maintenance and spare-parts shortages, led the airline to cut frequencies on quieter rural routes from 6 July to 24 October 2026, affecting about 4,000 passengers. In September it signed a four-year engine support deal with Pratt & Whitney Canada. Incidents score 55.

What does AirBorneo fly?

The ATR 72-500s are an older generation of the type, and AirBorneo has ordered eight ATR 72-600s and 42-600s to replace them from 2027 to 2029. The Twin Otters are about 12 to 14 years old, the airline says, and stay for now. The 737s are a separate matter: they are wet-leased from Batik Air's Malaysian company with its crews, so under our wet-lease rule any event on those flights counts on Batik Air's record. Fleet scores 58.

Who oversees AirBorneo?

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM). The FAA cut Malaysia to Category 2FAA 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 in 2019 and restored Category 1 in October 2022. AirBorneo is not an IATA member, and we could not read IATA's 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, so IOSA is not confirmed. Oversight scores 75, about five points below Malaysia Airlines, which holds IOSA under the same regulator.

Flying AirBorneo to the interior

• Fly early in the day. Afternoon storms build quickly over the Borneo highlands. Morning flights are more likely to land as planned.
• Pack light. A Twin Otter to Bario or a similar strip carries only a few passengers and tight baggage limits. On a short strip the weight margin matters.
• Build in a spare day. Rural flights are cancelled for weather and, in 2026, for aircraft availability. If you have an international connection from Miri or Kuching, do not book it for the same day.

How we scored it

The 2013 Kudat crash holds the accident record at 62, and repeated excursions with criticism of the airline's procedures keep incidents at 55. A Category 1FAA 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 regulator without confirmed 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 gives 75, an older turboprop fleet 58 and a network of short jungle strips 55. Overall 62. Compare PNG Air, which flies ATRs into similar terrain across New Guinea.