Solomon Airlines

Is Solomon Airlines safe?

Mostly, yes. Solomon Airlines has not had a fatal accident since 1991, and 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. What keeps the score down is everything around that record: a very small fleet that is often short of aircraft, shortages of fuel and spare parts, hard island airstrips and a home system that publishes almost no investigation reports. We score it 71.

That puts it above Air Niugini at 63 and well below Fiji Airways at 85. Confidence is low: with so few published reports, we know less about what happens inside this airline than about almost any other in the region.

The accident record

The Aviation Safety Network lists no accident for Solomon Airlines in the 20 years we count. Its worst crashes are much older. In September 1991 a Twin Otter crashed south of Guadalcanal, killing all 15 on board, and in October 1978 an Islander disappeared off Bellona Island with 11. Both are outside our window and do not lower the score, but they explain why we do not put a small airline with a clean recent record in the top band.

2026: a fleet stretched thin

Solomon Airlines flies only a handful of aircraft, and in 2026 several were out at once. Its only Dash 8-100 went into a heavy C-check in April, which ran months longer than planned, and the airline moved an A320 onto the Honiara to Munda route while the two Twin Otters kept the core domestic schedule (CAPA, Aero South Pacific). Then, in early July, a third-party service provider damaged one of the two A320s, H4-SIB, near the door with aircraft stairs at Brisbane. The repairs turned out to be structural, and the jet was not expected back before late November. Solomon Airlines filled the gap with wet-leased jets and crews from Skytrans and Alliance Airlines.

None of that is a safety failure on its own, and grounding an aircraft that needs work is the right call. But a fleet this small leaves little slack, and the airline is under financial strain: in February 2026 the opposition leader called for an independent audit of the state-owned carrier, citing a "serious sustainability crisis". In August the airline said it would hand H4-SIB back to its lessor after its last flights in February 2027, keep one A320 for a smaller international network, and add Twin Otters for domestic routes.

What we know about incidents

The public record since 2016 is short. In 2018 a Dash 8 turned back to Honiara from Lata with a mechanical problem. In September 2020 a Twin Otter accelerating on the 800-metre grass strip at Atoifi rejected take-off after a loud bang, and a passenger said the engines stopped; locals pushed it off the muddy runway, and it was fixed the same day. In 2025 Dash 8 flights to Munda and Gizo were disrupted by a lack of aviation fuel at those airports and a shortage of parts (ch-aviation).

We found no published Solomon Islands investigation reports on any of these. In April 2026 the Solomon Islands passed the investigation of a helicopter accident in Western Province to Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission, which suggests the country has little investigation capacity of its own. A short list of events is not proof of a clean record, so incidents score 66.

Who checks Solomon Airlines?

The Civil Aviation Authority of Solomon Islands certifies the airline. The Solomon Islands are not on the FAA's safety assessment list, because no Solomon Islands airline flies to the US, and not 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. Solomon Airlines is an IATA member, so it holds 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, which covers its operations and maintenance management to an international standard. That audit is the main reason oversight scores 64 and not lower.

What you fly on

International routes use the Airbus A320, a modern 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 jet; H4-SIB arrived in 2020 and H4-SAL in 2023. Domestic routes use the single Dash 8-100 to the larger airports such as Munda and Gizo, and DHC-6 Twin Otters to short and grass strips. The turboprops are old types. The fleet factor scores 55.

Tips for flying Solomon Airlines

• Allow spare days. With so few aircraft, one technical problem can cancel a route for days. Do not book a domestic hop the day before an international flight home.
• Check who operates your flight. If your booking says Skytrans or shows an A319, you are flying on another airline's certificate and crew.
• Pack light for the islands. Twin Otters to grass strips have strict weight limits, and baggage can be left behind when the load is tight.

How we scored it

The accident record (85) is the strongest factor: no crash in more than 25 years. The fleet (55) and the island environment (58) are the weakest, and oversight (64) and incidents (66) are held back by how little the Solomon Islands publish. Compare Air Vanuatu at 67 and Nauru Airlines at 80.