China Eastern Airlines

Is China Eastern Airlines safe?

Most China Eastern flights are on modern Airbus and Boeing jets and arrive without incident, and the airline is overseen by a regulator in the FAA's top category. But it had one of the worst air crashes of recent years. On 21 March 2022, flight MU5735 dived from cruise and hit a hillside in Guangxi, killing all 132 people on board. More than four years later, no cause has been published. We score China Eastern 71, the lowest of the three big Chinese airlines.

What happened on MU5735?

The Boeing 737-800, registered B-1791, was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou at about 29,000 ft when it began a near-vertical descent. Tracking data show a brief recovery at around 7,400 ft before a second dive. It crashed in Teng County, near Wuzhou, at very high speed.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) leads the investigation. Its last progress statement, in March 2024, said there were no abnormalities in the engines before take-off, the crew had passed their health checks, and radio and air traffic control showed nothing unusual. It released no statement on the 2025 or 2026 anniversaries, although ICAO rules ask states to publish one each year.

In spring 2026, the US National Transportation Safety Board posted a recorder download report from July 2022, after a public records request. According to AFP, it shows that "while cruising at 29,000 ft, the fuel switches on both engines moved from the run position to the cutoff position", and that engine speed then fell. Fuel switches on the 737 lock in place, so moving them by accident is unlikely. The document contains no cockpit voice transcript and gives no cause.

Some experts have read the data as a sign of deliberate action in the cockpit. Neither the CAAC nor the NTSB has said so. Until a cause is published, we treat MU5735 as an accident of undetermined cause, at full weight, as our aircraft methodology does.

The older record

China Eastern absorbed China Yunnan Airlines and China Northwest Airlines in the 2002–2003 restructuring. On 21 November 2004, a CRJ-200 flying as MU5210 crashed after take-off from Baotou: it had not been de-iced after a frosty night, stalled and fell into a frozen lake, killing all 53 on board and 2 people on the ground. That is just outside our 20-year window, but it was China Eastern's flight.

Earlier fatal accidents date from the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Chinese aviation's record was much weaker, including an An-24 at Shanghai in 1989 (34 dead) and two events in 1993 with 2 deaths each.

What incidents are on record?

Two events at Shanghai Hongqiao stand out.

• 11 October 2016: an A330 that had just landed crossed runway 36L while a China Eastern A320 was taking off on it. The A320 crew, already at about 110 knots, kept going and climbed over the A330, missing it by 19 m vertically and 13 m horizontally, according to CAAC. CAAC classed it as a serious incident and blamed mainly the tower controller, but also faulted the A330 crew for not watching the runway. The final report was never made public.
• 2 May 2026: an A350-900 on flight MU5406 from Chengdu lost its brakes while taxiing to the gate and struck the jet bridge several times with its left wing and engine. China Eastern said everyone left the aircraft safely. CAAC opened an investigation.

Fleet

At 30 June 2026, the group flew 833 aircraft with an average age of 9.6 years, according to its interim report. The bulk are 393 A320-family jets and 277 Boeing 737s, with 114 widebodies (A330, A350, 787 and 777-300ER). China Eastern also flies 17 COMAC C919s, more than Air China or China Southern (11 each), and 32 C909 regional jets. Those Chinese types are young and have flown far fewer hours than Airbus or Boeing models.

The group includes Shanghai Airlines, China United Airlines and Eastern Air Jiangsu, each with its own operating certificate. A flight sold under an MU number may be flown by one of them.

How to fly China Eastern safely

• Look at the operator line on your booking. It tells you whether China Eastern itself, Shanghai Airlines or another group airline flies the aircraft.
• Keep the belt fastened in cruise. It costs nothing and protects you in the events that most often hurt passengers on any airline.
• Follow the MU5735 investigation if it matters to you. If a final report is published, it will say whether the cause lay in the aircraft, the crew or something else, and we will re-score.

How we scored it

The accident record (62) sets the score: one fatal crash in the last five years, with 132 deaths and no published cause. Fleet (82) and oversight (80) are solid, though the missing MU5735 updates hold oversight down. Compare China Southern, with no fatal accident since 1997, and Air China.