Caribbean Airlines

Is Caribbean Airlines safe?

Yes, with caveats worth knowing. Caribbean Airlines has had no fatal accident since it took over from the old BWIA in January 2007, and its jets are now almost all young Boeing 737 MAX 8s. It is an IATA member, so it passes the 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, and Trinidad and Tobago holds FAA 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. Two things pull the score down: a 737-800 that broke apart at Georgetown in 2011, and a bad week in January 2025 when two of its ATR turboprops had serious problems. We score it 79, below Arajet and Copa.

The Georgetown overrun in 2011

Flight 523 from Port of Spain landed on runway 06 at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in light rain on 30 July 2011. According to the investigation summary on ASN, the captain said before the threshold that he was not landing, called a go-around three seconds before touchdown, and then touched down anyway, about 4,700 feet along a 7,448-foot runway. Full braking came too late. The 737 ran off the end, down a slope, and stopped across a road with its fuselage broken. All 163 people survived; one was seriously injured.

Guyana's investigators named the cause as excess power in the flare and a failure to use the full braking, with the crew's indecision about the go-around as a factor. That is a crew error, which is why we weigh it fully. It is also 15 years old and the airline's only 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, so the accident score is 83, close to other airlines with one non-fatal write-off in the window.

A smaller event at the same airport followed in November 2016. A 737 arriving from New York turned onto the wrong taxiway and its winglet sliced through the tail of a parked Fly Jamaica 767. The report blamed a long chain: the first officer's wrong turn, a wing walker who had not been properly trained, a ramp rule nobody had passed on, and an apron too small for ICAO standards. It also found the safety management systems of both the airport and Caribbean Airlines inadequate.

What went wrong with the ATRs in January 2025?

Two events five days apart put the turboprop fleet in the news. On 22 January an ATR 72-600 landed in Tobago from Barbados, and ground staff then noticed one of its two nose wheels was missing. On 27 January, flight BW1541 from Tobago to Piarco, with 68 passengers and 4 crew, had its left engine run out of fuel on final approach. The cabin crew shouted brace commands; the captain landed safely and nobody was hurt.

Finance minister Colm Imbert told the Senate the problem stemmed from wrong fuel readings in the left tank. The airline withdrew the aircraft and took a pilot and two technicians off duty while it investigated. Its pilots' association said it had raised ATR safety concerns for a decade, and the aviation workers' union said the airline had ignored written requests. The airline called the claims reckless and pointed to its 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 audits. We found no published finding, and an airline-led probe is not the same as an independent report. Together with the fuel event's seriousness, that gives incidents a score of 68.

Other events in our records were not the airline's doing. At Toronto in November 2022, the tower cleared a Caribbean MAX for take-off while a Flair jet was crossing the runway; the controller stopped the take-off at low speed. At Georgetown in April 2025, a Caribbean MAX landed while a Roraima Airways Islander was still on the runway, and local reports blamed the controller. In July 2017 a tourist standing behind the fence at St. Maarten's Maho Beach was blown over by a departing Caribbean 737's jet blast and died. We describe that death but do not count it, because she was outside the aircraft and no airline cause was found.

How old is the fleet?

Young at the jet end. Caribbean Airlines took nine 737 MAX 8s from late 2021 and returned its last 737-800 from the BWIA days in March 2023; it leased one 737-800 again in 2024 to cover growth. In February 2025 it flew ten 737s and ten ATR 72-600s. The ATRs are a current type; two of them went up for sale in 2026 as part of cost cuts. More MAX 8s and leased Embraer E175s are planned, though deliveries have slipped.

Where it flies

From Port of Spain to Tobago on a busy air bridge, to Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and other islands by ATR, to Georgetown and Paramaribo, and by jet to New York, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Toronto. The islands sit at the southern edge of the hurricane belt, so storms close airports less often than farther north, but summer thunderstorms are common. Short island runways and Georgetown's cramped apron add risk on the ground.

How to fly Caribbean Airlines safely

• On the ATR, follow the brace call. In BW1541 the crew's commands kept the cabin ready; take the safety card seriously on short hops.
• At Maho Beach, stay away from the fence. The jet-blast warning signs are there for a reason.
• From June to November, watch the National Hurricane Center. Rebook early when a storm heads for your route.

See our Trinidad and Tobago page for safety on the ground.

How we scored it

A young MAX fleet (84) and FAA 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 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 (80) help. The 2011 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 keeps the accident record at 83, and the January 2025 ATR events hold incidents at 68. The network (72) is typical for the Caribbean. Overall 79.