Tian Jiao Airlines (Genghis Khan Airlines)

Is Genghis Khan Airlines safe?

Its record is clean but short. Tian Jiao Airlines, the airline many booking sites still call Genghis Khan Airlines, has flown since 26 July 2019 without an accident or the loss of an aircraft. We score it 78, lower than most Chinese airlines, for reasons that have nothing to do with a known accident.

Three things hold it back. The whole fleet is the COMAC C909 (the ARJ21), a Chinese regional jet with a short service record. The network is made of small airports across Inner Mongolia, with long, hard winters. And the airline is not an IATA member, so we could not confirm 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), while China's regulator publishes little about incidents. None of that means the airline is unsafe. It means we know less, and the margins on its routes are thinner than at a big hub.

Who runs it, and why two names?

天骄航空 (Tianjiao Hangkong) was set up by the Inner Mongolia regional government as the region's own airline, to link its cities to each other rather than only to Beijing. It is based at Hohhot Baita airport. For several years it used Genghis Khan Airlines as its English name; in spring 2026 it switched back to Tian Jiao Airlines (ch-aviation, April 2026). The code 9D stayed the same.

It is a small operation. In 2024 the airline flew 11,050 hours and carried 444,000 passengers, and it passed one million passengers in total in January 2025. In its first five years it logged about 19,600 flight hours. A big Chinese airline flies that in a few days, which is why a clean record here counts for less than the same record at China Express, which has flown regional routes since 2006.

What is it like to fly the C909?

Every flight is on the COMAC C909, the regional jet COMAC sold as the ARJ21 until 2024. It has about 90 seats, two rear-mounted General Electric CF34 engines and a T-tail. Tian Jiao was the first airline to fly a fleet made up only of Chinese-built jets, and it took its 9th C909, in a joint COMAC livery, on 26 April 2026.

The aircraft are young, since all were delivered new from 2019. The question is the type. The C909 has had no fatal accident or 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 anywhere, but the world fleet has flown fewer than a million flights, too few to prove it is as safe as Western regional jets with tens of millions. Its engines and many systems come from US suppliers, so parts supply depends on export rules. The airline signed a pay-by-the-hour engine spares deal with China Aviation Supplies in April 2025, which helps. With a single, still unproven type, the fleet scores 68, below Chengdu Airlines (74), which mixes C909s with Airbus jets.

How hard are its routes?

Harder than average. By April 2026 the airline flew 22 routes inside Inner Mongolia and served all 12 of its leagues and cities, with stops at places like Xilinhot, Tongliao, Ulanhot, Hailar, Erenhot, Wuhai and Ordos, and it has also flown to Changchun, Yan'an and Yulin outside the region. Many routes hop between two small airports with no other airline, sometimes with a stop in the middle.

These airports are small, far apart and cold. Alxa Left Banner, in the western desert, had its runway category upgraded only in early 2026 before the C909 could start flights there. Winters bring snow, strong wind and deep cold, and the next airport for a diversion can be hundreds of kilometres away. We score the environment 64, level with China Express and its many remote fields.

What about incidents?

We found none on public record: no serious incident report, no fine and no grounding, and AeroInside, which tracks incidents for most airlines, has no entry for it under either name. The airline speaks of seven years of safe flying (China News Service, June 2026). But the CAAC publishes few investigation reports and the airline draws little coverage, so we score incidents 74, as for other small Chinese airlines with thin data, not as a proven clean record.

How we scored it

The accident record (87) is the strength, held below the top band by its short length and low volume. Oversight is 76, four points below Chinese airlines with a confirmed 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 audit. The all-C909 fleet (68) and the small, cold airports (64) are the weak spots, and incidents (74) reflect missing data. Overall 78.

If you fly with Tian Jiao in winter, book a direct flight with no stop in the middle where you can, and leave a spare day in your plans. Snow and wind can close a small Inner Mongolian airport for a day, and on a thin route the next flight may not leave until the following day or later.