EgyptAir

Is EgyptAir safe?

EgyptAir is a reasonable choice, with one large question hanging over its record. In May 2016 flight MS804 fell into the Mediterranean with 66 people on board, and ten years later Egypt and France still disagree on why. Apart from that crash, EgyptAir has lost one aircraft in 20 years, a Boeing 777 that burned at the gate in Cairo with nobody hurt. We score it 70.

What lifts the score is outside checking. EgyptAir passes the IATA safety audit (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) as an IATA member, flies to Europe and the US, is not 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, and Egypt holds the FAA's 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 rating. What holds it down, besides the crash, is how little is published: Egyptian investigators take years to report, and we could find few incident reports for the last decade.

What happened to flight MS804?

MS804 left Paris Charles de Gaulle late on 18 May 2016 for Cairo. The Airbus A320 was cruising at 37,000 feet over the eastern Mediterranean when, just after entering Egyptian airspace, it turned sharply and fell into the sea. All 56 passengers and 10 crew died.

The cockpit voice recorder captured a hissing sound and the pilots shouting "fire". Automatic messages had reported smoke in a lavatory and the avionics bay. From there the two investigations split:

• Egypt's view: investigators said traces of explosives were found on victims' remains in December 2016 and handed the case to prosecutors. Their final report, published on 30 October 2024, concluded that explosive material in the forward galley, just behind the cockpit, set off the fire and smoke that disabled the crew.
• France's view: the BEA, representing the country where the flight started and where Airbus is based, found no explosive residue. It said the Egyptian reasoning "appears to distort the facts" and kept its own conclusion: a fire started in the storage box of the first officer's oxygen mask, fed by leaking oxygen, and spread through the cockpit too fast to fight.

A British coroner, hearing evidence on a passenger in May 2025, found that he died in a fire "most likely associated with the First Officer's oxygen supply system". We count MS804 as a fatal accident. If a bomb were ever proved, our methodology would treat it as a criminal act and take it out of the accident score, but no court or agreed report has done that.

The Cairo cockpit fire and the hijacking

On 29 July 2011, a Boeing 777-200ER was boarding at Cairo when the first officer heard a pop and a hiss, and fire broke out in the console beside his seat. The crew got all 317 people off, but the fire burned two holes through the skin below his window and the aircraft was 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. Egyptian investigators pointed to an electrical fault heating hoses of the crew oxygen system (ASN). Oxygen feeding a fire beside the first officer is also the BEA's explanation for MS804.

On 29 March 2016, two months before MS804, a passenger on domestic flight MS181 from Alexandria to Cairo claimed to be wearing an explosive belt and forced the A320 to Larnaca in Cyprus. Everyone was released unharmed and the belt turned out to be fake. Unlawful acts like this are a security matter and do not count in our accident score.

How old is the EgyptAir fleet?

It is getting younger. In early 2026 EgyptAir flew about 67 aircraft: 30 Boeing 737-800s, 8 787-9s, 8 A320neos, 7 A321neos, 5 777-300ERs and 9 Airbus A330s. The A330s, averaging about 18 years, are the oldest. The first of 16 A350-900s arrived in February 2026, more have followed, and the first three of 18 Boeing 737-8s arrived on lease in May. The 12 Airbus A220s EgyptAir took from 2019 have left the fleet.

Flying EgyptAir: what to check

• Pick the aircraft if you can. On long-haul routes the 787-9 and A350 are the newest; some routes still use A330s that are close to 20 years old.
• Leave time in Cairo. Connections at Cairo can be tight and the terminals are large. A rushed connection is a comfort problem, not a safety one, but missed flights push people onto unfamiliar alternatives.
• Check where the flight goes. EgyptAir's African and Middle Eastern routes include airports with weaker infrastructure, and conflicts in the region change routings and close airspace at short notice. Follow the airline's notices rather than third-party schedules.

How we scored it

The accident record (66) reflects one fatal crash in the last 15 years plus a ground 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, on a small fleet. Oversight (76) is solid on paper but held back by slow and sparse reporting. A fleet in the middle of renewal (72), a thin incident record (70) and a harder network (68) give 70, below Turkish Airlines (71) and Saudia (75).