Mandarin Airlines

Is Mandarin Airlines safe?

Yes. Mandarin Airlines, the regional airline of the China Airlines group, has not had a fatal accident or lost an aircraft in the last 20 years, and its own fleet is 13 ATR 72-600 turboprops that average about four years old. We score it 82, a little above its parent China Airlines (80) and below Tigerair Taiwan (84). What holds it back is a run of landing accidents between 2012 and 2018, in which crews kept going in weather where they should have gone around.

What has gone wrong at Mandarin?

The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) has investigated four Mandarin flights since 2012. None hurt anyone. Three were landing accidents with damage, and they read alike.

Magong, August 2012. An Embraer E190 from Taipei Songshan landed on a wet runway at Magong in Penghu, touching down about 2,800 feet past the threshold. The crew thought the aircraft was hydroplaning and steered it onto the grass near the runway end, where it hit the concrete bases of taxiway lights and the nose gear collapsed. Investigators found the crew had flared early, kept the thrust up too long and should have gone around or rejected the landing.

Taichung, September 2014. An E190 from Zhengzhou landed in a thunderstorm and drifted off the right edge of the runway for about 1,200 feet before coming back, damaging a cowling and runway signs. The TTSB said the crew could not see the runway markings well enough and should have gone around.

Taichung, August 2018. An ATR 72-600 from Magong drifted left on landing in heavy rain, ran off the runway edge and hit edge lights. The first officer was flying although visibility was below the limit Mandarin's own manual set for first officers, and the captain took over too late. The TTSB told Mandarin to make crews follow the manual and told the regulator to check that it did.

Under our rules these three are accidents and count in the accident score, not again under incidents.

Hualien, May 2019. An ATR lost cabin pressure while descending towards Hualien, and the crew put on oxygen masks and made an emergency descent. A one-way valve for the ground air-conditioning connection had probably failed and was not fully closed. The TTSB noted that ATR had issued an improved valve in February 2018, and Mandarin had not assessed it or added a check of the valve to its pre-flight work cards.

Since then the record is quieter. In May 2025 an engine cover opened as an ATR climbed out of Kaohsiung, and the crew returned safely. We found no regulator fine against Mandarin for a safety lapse in the last ten years, and the TTSB had no open Mandarin case in October 2026.

Who actually flies your AE flight?

It depends on the route. Mandarin's own certificate covers the ATRs, which fly the domestic and island routes. On busy holidays it adds Boeing 737-800 and A321neo flights, and its cross-strait and regional flights use China Airlines jets, including A330s and A350s. Taiwanese reports describe these as wet leases: in 2017 a China Airlines pilot failed a breath test before an AE flight from Taichung to Hong Kong. Under our rules, an event on a jet and crew leased from China Airlines counts on the China Airlines page, not here.

What about Formosa Airlines?

Mandarin absorbed Formosa Airlines, a Taiwanese commuter airline, in 1999. Formosa had four fatal crashes between 1993 and 1998 that killed 41 people: three Dornier 228s near Orchid Island and Matsu, and a Saab 340 off Hsinchu in 1998. It also wrote off three more Dorniers without deaths in those years. Those crashes are more than 20 years old and do not count in our accident score, but they are part of why island flying in Taiwan has a hard reputation.

How hard is Mandarin's network?

Harder than most. Mandarin flies to Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Taitung and Hualien, as well as Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. The island airports have short runways close to the sea, and fog, low cloud and crosswinds often close them. Bird strikes are a real problem: Mandarin's general manager told a safety conference that its aircraft had eight in the first half of 2024, mostly at Penghu and Taichung. Taichung shares its runway with the air force and has no centreline lights, which the TTSB named in both Taichung accidents. Typhoons close most of these airports for days each year. No EASA conflict-zone bulletin covers Taiwan.

How to fly Mandarin safely

If you are flying to Kinmen, Matsu or Penghu, book an early flight and leave a spare day before anything important at the other end; weather cancellations on island routes often roll on through the day. Check the airline's flight status before you leave for the airport. If your flight is delayed for fog or wind, that is the crew holding to limits, which is exactly what the 2012–2018 accidents show they should do.

How we scored it

The accident record (84) has no deaths or lost aircraft in 20 years, but three crew-handling landing accidents. Oversight (84) matches other IOSA-registeredIOSAThe 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 Taiwanese airlines. The fleet (86) is young and of one current type. Serious incidents (72) weigh the 2019 pressurisation failure and its maintenance finding, and the environment (76) reflects the island airports. Overall 82. See also UNI Air, the EVA group's island airline.