Aurora Airlines

Is Aurora Airlines safe?

Aurora has had no fatal accident and has not written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary an aircraft on its own certificate in the last 20 years. That record is what keeps its score at 55. Everything else is weaker: the 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, 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 we could confirm, its Western-built fleet has had no factory support since 2022, and its network includes some of the hardest airports in Russia, on the Kuril Islands and northern Sakhalin.

Our confidence is low. Aurora's website did not answer our requests, it publishes little safety data, and few Russian incident reports have reached outside databases since 2021.

Whose record is this?

Aurora is the trading name the old SAT Airlines of Sakhalin took on when it merged with Vladivostok Avia's airline business, and it still flies with SAT's ICAO code, SHU. We found no hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary for SAT, Vladivostok Avia or Aurora since October 2006. SAT's last written-off aircraft was an An-24 that collapsed its nose gear in a hard landing at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in November 2005, just outside our window.

Aurora presents itself as the core of a single Far East airline, and its name often comes up after one crash that was not its own. On 6 July 2021 an An-26 of Kamchatka Air Enterprise flew into a coastal cliff while approaching Palana in fog, and all 28 people on board died. Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) found that the crew left the published approach and descended far below the minimum height without seeing the ground. Kamchatka Air Enterprise belongs to the Kamchatka regional government, not to Aurora. The two plan routes and fleet renewal together, but it flies under its own certificate, so under our rules its accidents stay on its own record. The same goes for a Mi-8 helicopter of Kamchatka Air Enterprise that was damaged in the Yelizovo district on 6 October 2026, injuring its three crew; MAK is investigating. It also applies to the Mi-8 and Twin Otter flights Aurora sells but its partner Taiga Airlines flies.

Incidents on short runways

The AeroInside log for Aurora, built from Rosaviatsia reports, runs to late 2021. Most entries are technical: hydraulic failures, cabin pressure faults and engine shutdowns on Dash 8s, smoke in an A319 cockpit. The events that weigh more:

• Vladivostok, October 2020. A Twin Otter from Kavalerovo with 12 passengers landed long in gusts of up to 23 knots and veered off the right edge of the runway before steering back onto it. Rosaviatsia rated it a serious incident and opened an investigation.
• Kunashir, July 2020. A Dash 8-400 with 49 passengers turned at the end of the runway to taxi back to the terminal, and its left main gear went off the paved surface, stranding the aircraft. Passengers walked to the terminal and the aircraft stayed on the ground for 26 hours.
• Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, November 2021. A Dash 8-400 bound for Okha rejected its take-off when the speed readings were wrong. It stopped safely.

None hurt anyone, but two are 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 a network with little room for error. With nothing in outside records after 2021, we do not treat the last five years as clean.

Oversight and a fleet short of parts

The European Commission put Aurora (AOC 486) 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 in April 2022 with 20 other Russian airlines, after Rosaviatsia let them fly leased foreign aircraft without valid certificates of airworthiness. It was still listed on 9 June 2026. ICAO has had a Significant Safety Concern on Russia since June 2022. Aurora is not on IATA's member list, so unlike Aeroflot 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 to point to. Under our yardstick that gives 20, the same as Yakutia Airlines.

In May 2026 Aurora said it had 19 aircraft. Its fleet is built around Airbus A319s for the longer routes and de Havilland Canada Dash 8 and DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops for the islands and small towns. Airbus and the Canadian makers stopped support in 2022. In May 2022 RBC reported that Aurora was short of aircraft because of breakdowns and missing parts, worst of all on its 13 Canadian turboprops, and that it had signed a code-share with Angara Airlines, whose An-24s would fly four of its subsidised routes from Khabarovsk. In September 2026 its chief executive and the governor of Kamchatka discussed the Russian Il-114-300 as a step-by-step replacement for the regional fleet, but none had been delivered.

Before you fly to the islands

• Leave a spare day either side. Fog on Kunashir and Iturup can cancel flights for days in summer. Do not plan a Kuril trip around a fixed onward flight from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
• Check who flies the leg. Aurora sells some helicopter and Twin Otter flights that Taiga Airlines operates. The operating airline is printed on the booking.

How we scored it

The accident record (84) is the strongest factor: no deaths and no hull lossesHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary on Aurora's certificate in 20 years. Oversight (20) reflects the EU ban, ICAO's open concern and 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. The fleet (36) is short of parts for its Canadian turboprops, incidents (50) include two 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 in 2020, and the island network keeps the environment at 40. For another Far East airline with a small fleet and harsh airports, see Yakutia Airlines.