SCAT Airlines

Is SCAT Airlines safe?

SCAT is a reasonable choice for domestic and regional flights, but its record is weaker than that of Kazakhstan's flag carrier. The airline lost a CRJ200 and everyone on board near Almaty in 2013, and a Boeing 737 burned out at the gate at Aktau two years later. Since then it has had no fatal accident, it is 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 through its IATA membership, and it is steadily replacing older Boeings with 737 MAX jets. We score it 64, below Air Astana (78) and Uzbekistan Airways (74). The 2013 crash, which sits well inside our 20-year window, is the main reason.

What happened on SCAT flight 760?

On 29 January 2013, flight DV760 from Kokshetau approached Almaty in freezing fog. The runway visual range was about 225 to 275 metres and vertical visibility was 40 metres, worse than the minimums the crew was certified to land in. The captain, who was flying, kept descending towards decision height as the weather stayed poor, and investigators described him as growing more and more stressed and irritated. At about 180 metres the crew started a go-around. Four seconds after the go-around button was pressed, the control column was pushed forward. The CRJ200 pitched down to about 20 degrees, the terrain warning sounded, and the jet hit the ground 1.6 km from the airport. All 21 people died.

The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) investigated. It found that the go-around was needed because the weather was below the minimums the crew was certified for. It could not say for certain why the aircraft was put into a dive, and it found no evidence of a technical failure.

What else has gone wrong?

Two more events count in our scoring, one 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 and one accident.

• Aktau, June 2015. After passengers had left a Boeing 737-300 at the gate, a fire broke out in the forward cargo hold while the aircraft's oxygen system was being refilled from a ground supply. Investigators traced it to a ruptured oxygen hose. Nobody was hurt, but the aircraft was written off. With no one on board for a flight, it is not an accident under ICAO's definition; we count it as a hull loss and weigh it lightly, because a ground-servicing fire is not a flight risk to passengers.
• Almaty, July 2018. A Boeing 757 returning from Hurghada as flight DV5038 with 245 people on board touched down 935 metres past the threshold, went around, and struck its tail because the flaps were retracted too early. It landed safely 25 minutes later with substantial damage. ASN lists the flight under the Sunday Airlines charter name, but it flew under SCAT's own DV flight number, so it counts here. Kazakhstan's investigators named crew fatigue as a factor: one crew had flown Almaty–Hurghada–Almaty in a single day, and the report says the airline's chief pilot and flight operations director had not approved the crew for that rotation.

Smaller events in the last ten years include a 737-500 that left the runway at low speed while turning around at Kostanay in 2018, and a bird strike that forced a 737-500 back to Atyrau in 2020. Kazakhstan's investigation office publishes reports, but often only in Russian and sometimes long after the event, so we treat a quiet record as thin rather than clean.

How good is Kazakhstan's oversight?

Better than it was. For years every airline certified in Kazakhstan was 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. In December 2016 the European Commission cleared them all, crediting "years of work and European technical assistance". No Kazakh airline is on the June 2026 list, and SCAT now flies into the EU, to Prague. It is an IATA member, which requires an 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.

What Kazakhstan lacks is an FAA rating: it does not appear 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, because no Kazakh airline flies to the US. That leaves SCAT on the same 72 as Air Astana and FlyArystan for oversight.

What does SCAT fly?

Only Boeings, nearly 40 of them. SCAT was the first airline in Central Asia to fly the 737 MAX and had 14 in April 2026: nine 737-8s and five 737-9s. It has ten more 737-9s on order. The rest of the fleet is older-generation Boeings; the airline's own history includes 1990s 757s and 737 Classics, and SCAT does not publish an average age. With about a third of the fleet on current types, the fleet scores 62. That is lower than Uzbekistan Airways, where about 60% of the fleet is new-generation.

SCAT is also building a Boeing maintenance centre at its Shymkent base, and it owns 40% of Egypt's Red Sea Airlines and, since its two minority partners left in April 2026, all of the Kazakh regional airline Southern Sky (Yuzhnoye Nebo). Those airlines fly on their own certificates and are not counted here.

Where it flies

The network is wide for an airline of its size. Most flights link Shymkent, Almaty and Astana with regional Kazakh cities, where winter brings snow, fog and strong winds. In 2026 SCAT added Shymkent routes to Karaganda, Kostanay, Bishkek, Novosibirsk, St Petersburg and Tyumen. Flights into Russia fall under EASA's conflict-zone bulletin for Russian airspace, valid to January 2027, which warns of drones and GPS jamming. SCAT also flies holiday routes to Turkey, Egypt and the Gulf, and a 14-hour Prague–Sanya service with a stop in Bishkek.

What passengers should know

• On a winter morning in Almaty or Astana, expect fog delays. The 2013 crash began with a crew pressing on into fog below their limits. A hold or diversion in fog is a sign that the crew is following its limits.
• Check the aircraft type when you book. On busy routes a 737 MAX is increasingly likely; on charters and some regional routes you may still fly an older Boeing.
• On routes to Tashkent or Dushanbe, compare with Uzbekistan Airways and Somon Air.

How we scored it

The accident record (62) carries most of the weight: a fatal crash in 2013, a 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 in 2015 and a 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 in 2018. Oversight (72) matches the other Kazakh airlines: a regulator cleared by the EU in 2016, no FAA rating, and 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. The fleet (62) is a third new 737 MAX and two thirds older Boeings, incidents (66) are a thin record, and the environment (60) reflects regional airports, harsh winters and flights into Russia. Overall 64.