Myanmar National Airlines

Is Myanmar National Airlines safe?

It is safer than its history suggests, but its record is the weakest of Myanmar's main airlines. Myanmar National Airlines (MNA), the state-owned carrier, has not had a fatal accident since 1999, and in 2023 it passed the 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 safety audit and joined IATA. Against that, it has 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 four aircraft in the last 20 years, a 737-800's landing gear collapsed at Kunming in 2025, and two of its ATRs have been hit by gunfire or drones since the 2021 coup. We score it 67, below its private rival Myanmar Airways International (72).

An old airline with a patchy record

MNA started in 1948 as Union of Burma Airways, became Myanma Airways in 1989 and took its present name in 2014. It is the same company under each name, so its older accidents count here.

The worst are outside our 20-year window. In 1998 a Fokker F27 flew into a hill near Tachileik, killing all 36 on board, and another F27 crashed into a ridge near Sittwe on a cargo flight in 1999. Since then, nobody has died in an MNA accident, but several aircraft have been lost:

• Sittwe, June 2009. A Fokker F28 landed hard, the right main gear failed and the jet slid off the runway. Three people were hurt 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.
• Mong Hsat and Kawthaung, 2013. Within four weeks, two Chinese-built Xian MA60 turboprops ran off runways and were written off. At Mong Hsat a first officer on line training was flying and touched down fast; two people were hurt.
• Mandalay, May 2019. The nose gear of an Embraer E190 would not come down. The captain landed on the main wheels and nobody was hurt. Myanmar's investigators blamed maintenance that did not follow the fault-isolation manual and "poor workmanship" in servicing the nose-gear strut.
• Kunming, July 2025. The right main gear of a 737-800 from Yangon collapsed during the landing roll and the jet stopped on the runway. No final report is public yet.

An F28 overrun at Dawei in 2007 was repaired. Nobody has died, and an airline with no fatal accident in 15 years scores between 80 and 94 on accidents. Four hull losses and two more damaging accidents in 20 years is a lot for an airline of this size, so the accident record sits at the bottom of that band, 80.

Brakes, gear and runways

The recent serious incidents point to the same area: wheels, brakes and runway control. In November 2022 an ATR landing at Yangon from Sittwe skidded to the right side of the runway before the crew brought it back to the centre line; Myanmar's regulator rated it a serious incident. In May 2025 a 737-800 at Mandalay rejected take-off twice because of a grinding noise from the gear, and fire crews put out a small brake fire. In April 2026 an ATR 72-600 taxiing at Yangon lost its brakes, struck a parked Myanmar Airways International A319 and then hit ground equipment. Both aircraft were damaged; nobody was hurt.

Three such events in four years, plus the 2019 maintenance failure and the 2025 gear collapse, are why incidents score 50. Myanmar publishes few full reports, so we cannot say how each was fixed.

Flying through a civil war

MNA flies to more of Myanmar's small domestic airports than any other airline, and many are in or near contested areas. On 30 September 2022 an ATR on final approach to Loikaw was hit three times by gunfire, and a boy on board was hurt in the face. On 20 February 2026 a drone carrying explosives hit an MNA ATR 72-600 boarding at Myitkyina, setting the rear fuselage on fire; the passengers got off in time. On 11 September 2026 drones attacked Mandalay's Tada-U airport, and flights there were halted.

These attacks are not the airline's fault, so they are not in the accident record. They are in the environment score (42), alongside EASA's Information Note, which since July 2026 has asked airlines to weigh the risk in all Myanmar airspace below FL260.

Fleet and oversight

MNA's current fleet is of modern types: Boeing 737-800s, the first leased from GECAS in June 2015, and ten ATR 72-600 turboprops, the first delivered in August 2015. The airline's fleet page now lists only these two types. Deliveries began in 2015, but MNA publishes no average age, so the fleet scores 64.

The 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 is the strongest outside check. MNA says it joined IATA on 3 April 2023 after passing it, and it must repeat the audit every two years. No Myanmar airline is 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 Myanmar is not on the FAA's IASAFAA 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 list. That gives oversight 70, the same as MAI.

Before you book

• Compare with MAI on shared routes. Both fly Yangon to Mandalay and to Singapore, and MAI has the cleaner record.
• Check the destination airport, not just the flight. Myitkyina was closed for about six weeks in 2026, and Mandalay lost its international flights after the September attack.
• Keep a spare day in your plans. In March 2026 a jet fuel shortage stopped most domestic flights for four days, and closures after attacks come with little warning.

How we scored it

The accident record (80) is the strongest factor: no deaths in 20 years, but four aircraft 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 and a gear collapse in 2025 keep it at the bottom of the band for airlines without a fatal accident. Incidents (50) are the weakest factor, with three brake or runway events since 2022. Oversight (70) rests on 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 since 2023. The fleet (64) is current in type, and the environment (42) reflects drone and gunfire attacks on MNA's own aircraft.