Bangkok Airways

Is Bangkok Airways safe?

Yes, with one caveat that matters for its passengers. Bangkok Airways is IOSA-registeredIOSAThe 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 and has had one fatal accident in the last 20 years, on 4 August 2009, when an ATR 72 ran off the runway at Koh Samui and the captain died. We score it 76. Koh Samui is both the airline's signature airport and the place where its worst events have happened, including its 1990 crash and two A319 occurrences since 2023.

Bangkok Airways is a small, full-service airline. In the second quarter of 2026 it had 22 aircraft, about a quarter of Thai Airways' fleet.

What happened at Koh Samui in 2009?

Flight PG266 from Krabi, an ATR 72-500 with 72 people on board, was cleared to land on runway 35 at Samui with a reported wind of 15 knots from the north-west. By the time it landed, gusts were blowing at 25 to 35 knots. During the approach the ground proximity system called "sink rate". The crew carried on. The nose and main wheels hit the runway together at 117 knots, and the aircraft veered off the left side, struck the roof of the fire station and slid into the old control tower, by then a weather office.

The captain was killed. The co-pilot and eight passengers were seriously hurt. Thailand's Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee found that the crew should have gone around under the airline's own stabilised approach policy, that the co-pilot did not call for a go-around, and that the old tower stood where it was an obstacle to aircraft leaving the runway. Its final report came out more than 16 years after the crash.

The airline's only other fatal accident is older. On 21 November 1990, a Dash 8-100 on approach to Samui in heavy rain went around, lost control and crashed into a coconut plantation, killing all 38 people on board. That is outside our 20-year window and does not count in the score.

The incidents since

Thailand's investigation bodies publish little, so the clearest record comes from the notifications they send to France's BEA, which takes part because Airbus and ATR are French manufacturers:

• 15 July 2016: an A319 from Kuala Lumpur to Samui lost cabin pressure in cruise after a bleed air failure and made an emergency landing. Classed as a serious incident.
• 25 July 2017: engine cowl doors came off an A320 during take-off from Bangkok on a flight to Phuket. Serious incident.
• 30 May 2018: smoke in the cabin of an ATR 72 flying from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Serious incident.
• 29 August 2023: an A319 from Bangkok touched down before the threshold of runway 17 at Samui. No one was hurt and the aircraft was not damaged; the AIB opened an investigation.
• 4 June 2024: the same A319, HS-PGN, arrived from Singapore and, according to ASN, moved from its parking position and hit the airport wall. The radome and front fuselage frames were damaged badly enough to count as an accident.

In July 2025 a passenger's power bank caught fire on a Samui to Hong Kong flight; the cabin crew put it out and the aircraft diverted to Bangkok. That shows good crew handling rather than an airline fault. None of these events hurt anyone, but the short touchdown at Samui and the 2024 damage keep the incidents score at 66, and we do not read Thailand's thin reporting as a clean record.

Why Thailand spent ten years in FAA Category 2

ICAO found serious gaps in Thailand's oversight in 2015, in particular in how it certified airlines, and raised a significant safety concern. The FAA moved Thailand 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 December 2015. Thailand rebuilt its regulator as the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) and re-certified its airlines; ICAO cleared the concern in 2017, but the FAA only restored Category 1 in April 2025, and that is still the latest US list. No Thai 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.

Bangkok Airways is an IATA member, which requires 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 every two years. Oversight scores 78, the same as Thai Airways, because both depend on the same regulator, which reached 88.03% effective implementationICAO USOAPICAO's audit of how well each country's aviation regulator oversees safety. The result is an "effective implementation" percentage.More in the glossary in its 2025 ICAO audit, up from 61.60%.

How old is the fleet?

Mixed. The 10 ATR 72-600s are the current version of the turboprop, with glass cockpits. The 11 A319s and the single A320 are older ceo jets; the A319 damaged at Samui was built in 2009. Before the pandemic it flew about 40 aircraft, a size it wants to reach again within five years (CAPA).

In 2025 Bangkok Airways agreed to buy 10 to 12 new ATR 72-600s, two due in the last quarter of 2026 and the rest in 2027 and 2028, to replace its current ATRs and grow again. It has not yet announced a replacement for the A319s, which is why the fleet scores 70.

How to fly Bangkok Airways safely

• Expect a firm landing at Samui. The runway is short, so a positive touchdown is normal there. A go-around in gusty weather is a normal safety step, not a sign of trouble; the 2009 crash happened because the crew did not fly one.
• Fly earlier in the day in the wet season. Thunderstorms over the Gulf of Thailand build in the afternoon, mostly from October to December on Samui, and delay or divert flights.
• Keep power banks in reach. Thai and international rules require them in the cabin, not in checked bags, so the crew can deal with one that overheats, as they did in 2025.

How we scored it

The accident record (82) has no fatal accident in 15 years but is held near the bottom of that band by the 2009 Samui crash, which falls inside our 20-year window until 2029. Oversight (78) is the same as for other Thai airlines with 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. Incidents (66) and the older A319s (fleet 70) are the weak points. Compare Thai Airways at 78 and the Thai low-cost Nok Air.