FlySafair

Is FlySafair safe?

Yes. FlySafair has never had a fatal accident or 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 an aircraft, and it answers to one of Africa's strongest regulators. The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) is in 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 and scored a preliminary 95% in an ICAO validation mission in 2026, up from 91% in 2023. FlySafair's operator, Safair, is an IATA member and so holds an IOSA registrationIOSAThe 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.

The catch is the aircraft. FlySafair flies 40 Boeing 737s, most of them second-hand 737-800s, plus four 737-400s that belong to an older generation. Several of its incidents trace back to technical faults on those older jets. We score it 79, just above South African Airways at 77.

Who actually flies FlySafair?

FlySafair is a brand, not a separate airline. The flights operate on the certificate of Safair, a South African company better known for decades of charter and cargo flying, including Lockheed Hercules freighters for aid agencies. The low-cost passenger operation started in 2014 and has grown into one of the biggest domestic airlines in South Africa.

That history matters for the record. Safair's older events came before the FlySafair brand existed. In January 2011 a Safair 737-200 on a charter missed its turn while taxiing at night at Hoedspruit air force base. The pilot tried to reverse the jet out of a dead end without anyone guiding him from outside and damaged it. In September 2007, on a scheduled flight from Johannesburg, a cabin crew seat broke loose on landing at Ndola in Zambia, and a flight attendant suffered a broken neck. The ASN record names FlySafair as the operator, seven years before the brand existed; we treat it as a Safair flight. Neither event killed anyone, and no Safair aircraft has ever been 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 in the records we use.

One later event was not the airline's doing. On 11 November 2022 an SAA Technical crew lost control of an A320 under tow at Johannesburg and it hit a parked FlySafair 737-800, which needed repairs. FlySafair has since sued SAA Technical for lost profit. We count the damage, but lightly, because another company caused it.

The 2020 decompression and other incidents

The most serious event on a FlySafair passenger flight happened on 22 November 2020. A 737-400 flying from Cape Town to East London with 164 people on board climbed through 33,000 feet when the cabin altitude warning went off. The crew put on oxygen masks, made an emergency descent and diverted to George. Nine passengers had minor injuries, mostly nosebleeds and ear pain.

SACAA's investigators classed it as a serious incident. Their final report, published in April 2022, found a faulty air/ground sensor that also explained a transponder failure earlier in the flight, two right-hand cabin doors that had not been closed properly before departure, a torn seal on the rear cargo door, and an air-conditioning duct that had cracked where it had been repaired with an incorrect welding procedure. They also noted that the cockpit voice recorder was not secured after the flight. Older parts, they concluded, had combined to cause the leak.

In late March and early April 2022, a 737-400 had flap and slat problems on departures from East London, and flights diverted. SACAA told FlySafair to keep the aircraft on the ground until it had reviewed the events. The airline and the regulator disagreed in public about whether one or two aircraft were involved.

Other events show a steady run of technical faults rather than one big failure: a stick shaker warning at Johannesburg in 2019, a wheel that fell off a 737-800 on take-off from Johannesburg in April 2024, a suspected tail strikeTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary at Cape Town in 2015 and a landing without clearance at Johannesburg the same year. On 17 October 2025, a FlySafair 737-400 was cleared to land on runway 03L at Johannesburg while an Air France 777 lined up on the same runway. The crew saw lights at the holding point and went around at about 500 feet. The investigators classed it as a serious incident; their findings are not out yet, and the crew's action was the correct one.

Is the fleet too old?

FlySafair's 737-800s are not new. The two that joined in September 2026 came from Hainan Airlines and are nine years old, and many others came from other airlines too. The 737-800 is a reliable type with a very good record, but it is not a 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 design, and the airline has no new-generation aircraft yet. The four 737-400s are older still. FlySafair has leased three 737 MAX 8s from AerCap for delivery from 2028, which should let it retire the 737-400s. Until then, the fleet scores 60.

How to fly FlySafair with confidence

• Expect some delays from technical checks. Most FlySafair incidents ended with a precautionary return or diversion. That is the system working, but it can cost you a connection, so leave spare time.
• Listen to the oxygen mask briefing. In the 2020 decompression the cabin altitude stopped just below the level at which masks drop automatically. If they do drop, put yours on before helping anyone else.
• Fly the main routes in winter with patience. Cape Town and George get cold fronts from May to August, and diversions happen.

How we scored it

The accident record (92) is FlySafair's strength: no deaths and no lost aircraft. Oversight (82) follows the yardstick for an 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 state 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, less two points for the 2022 grounding. The fleet (60) is the weakest factor, with no new-generation aircraft, and incidents (66) reflect repeated technical faults and a maintenance finding in 2020. A mostly domestic network (72) completes the score of 79. Compare Airlink, which shares the regulator.