Binter

Is Binter safe?

Yes. Binter has one of the cleanest records in Europe: in more than 1.6 million flights since March 1989 it has had no fatal accident and has not lost an aircraft. We score it 88, level with Vueling and above Iberia Express (86), its main rival on the Madrid route. The points it loses come from a few crew and maintenance slips on the turboprops, and from flying in some of Spain's windiest and foggiest airports.

For anyone flying between the Canary Islands, Binter is hard to avoid. It runs about 215 inter-island flights a day and is the only airline serving all eight island airports, and since February 2024 it also flies Gran Canaria and Tenerife to Madrid. In 2024 it carried 5.4 million passengers.

Has Binter ever had a crash?

No. The Aviation Safety Network lists no fatal or write-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 accident for Binter Canarias. Two events meet the ICAO definition of an accident in the last 20 years, both turbulence on ATR flights run by the original Naysa, a Binter subsidiary whose operations were later merged into Binter's:

• Near Tenerife South, August 2013. An ATR 72 dropped sharply on descent, and a flight attendant standing in the aisle was seriously injured.
• Between Tenerife North and Gran Canaria, March 2015. Flight NT190 hit unforecast turbulence of 2.54 g at 13,000 feet with the seat-belt sign off and three people standing; one was seriously hurt.

A crash often linked with the name, a CASA CN-235 at Málaga in 2001 that killed four, was flown by Binter Mediterráneo, a separate Iberia subsidiary that no longer exists.

Who actually flies your Binter plane?

Binter is a brand flown by three Spanish certificates. Binter's own certificate now covers the Embraer E195-E2 jets used on longer routes. The ATR 72-600 turboprops that fly most island hops belong to Canarias Airlines (Canair, since 2011) and Naysa, a new Binter subsidiary that reused the old name and has flown since June 2023, which fly them in Binter colours under Binter's NT flight numbers. All three belong to the Binter group and are overseen by Spain's AESA under EU rules, so we score them together. In summer Binter also hires Airbus A320s with crews from the Maltese airline Galistar. On 14 July 2024 one of them, 9H-VDS, was being towed back at La Coruña as flight NT5203 to Gran Canaria when the tug driver, trying to free a stuck tow bar after a rushed and poorly coordinated pushback, was caught by the nose wheel and lost a leg. The Aviation Safety Network lists the flight as "Binter Canarias, lsf Galistar Malta", and Spain's CIAIAC has published a preliminary report (A-022/2024). We do not count it here or anywhere else: Galistar's certificate and crew flew the aircraft, and the only person hurt was on the ground. None of the 137 people on board was injured.

The difference shows in audits. Binter Canarias 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 safety audit; Canair and Naysa are not on the list, and we could not confirm their audits. That keeps oversight at 88 rather than 90.

The incidents that matter

The clearest crew error came on 9 August 2023. A Naysa crew set the parking brake in flight and forgot to release it, then landed at Gran Canaria with it on. The ATR stopped on the centreline with its main tyres and wheel rims ground down; none of the 73 people on board was hurt. The CIAIAC named overconfidence and complacency as factors.

Two other ATR events point at the operators:

• Gran Canaria, March 2022. A Canair crew read back the wrong runway and landed on 03L instead of 03R while an airport vehicle was on it; the driver cleared it after the tower spotted the error. The CIAIAC blamed the controller for not catching the wrong readback.
• Tenerife North, June 2025. A part of the nose-gear steering fell off during landing. The CIAIAC found the most likely cause was a nut that worked loose because its locking washer had not been fitted.

Others were not Binter's doing. In August 2025 a calibration aircraft overflew a Binter E195-E2 waiting on the runway at Gran Canaria at about 112 feet, and in 2017 a light aircraft came within 200 feet vertically of a Binter ATR near Tenerife after a controller handover. Engine shutdowns in flight, in 2021 and 2025, ended in normal landings.

How new is the fleet?

Very new. Binter became the first European operator of the Embraer E195-E2 in 2019 and had 16 by 2026, with financing for nine more from 2027. The E2 has 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 and new-generation engines. The turboprops are ATR 72-600s, the current model, built for short runways and short sectors, and the older ATR 72-500s were gone by 2024. Binter does not publish an average age.

Tips for flying Binter

• Keep your belt on until the gate. Island hops are short, the cabin crew are on their feet for much of them, and both of Binter's accidents were sudden turbulence.
• Expect diversions at Tenerife North. Low cloud and fog at Los Rodeos regularly send flights to Tenerife South; it is a safety call, not a fault.
• Check which aircraft you are on. Jets fly Madrid, the mainland and Africa routes; most inter-island flights are ATRs run by Canair or Naysa under the Binter name.

How we scored it

Thirty-seven years without a fatal crash or write-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 (94), a new fleet (88) and EU oversight 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 for the main certificate (88) carry the score. The 2023 parking-brake landing and the 2025 maintenance slip hold incidents at 80, and island wind, fog and short runways set the environment at 80. Together that gives 88.