Southern Sky Airlines

Is Southern Sky Airlines safe?

It has no recorded accident, but it flies one of the oldest passenger aircraft still in service. Southern Sky Airlines, known in Kazakhstan as Yuzhnoye Nebo, is a small regional airline owned by SCAT. It flies government-subsidised routes to remote districts of East Kazakhstan with Antonov An-24 turboprops. We found no accident since it started flying in 2014. The score of 63, just below SCAT's 64, comes from the aircraft, the lack of 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 and how little is published about its operations. Our confidence is low.

A SCAT feeder on the margins

Southern Sky was set up in 2014 to serve Kazakhstan's more remote regions, using aircraft SCAT had retired: An-2 biplanes, An-24s and Yak-42 jets, according to ch-aviation at the time. Forbes Kazakhstan reports that it was first owned by two businessmen and that SCAT became a shareholder in June 2016. In April 2026 both minority owners left, and SCAT is now the only shareholder.

The airline is small and leans on public money. In 2024 it took in 2.69 billion tenge (about $5.7 million), more than 1.5 billion of it in government subsidies, made a loss and ended the year with negative equity, according to filings reported by ch-aviation. SCAT lends it money for day-to-day costs. Routes include Semey to Urzhar and Ust-Kamenogorsk to Zaisan, and the airline flies cargo charters for state bodies and businesses.

It sells tickets for these routes itself and flies under its own Kazakh certificate, its own code IH and its own call sign, SKY SOUTH, so its record is scored here and not on SCAT's page.

The An-24 question

The Antonov An-24 first flew in 1959. Production ended decades ago, and most surviving examples are more than 45 years old, kept flying through repeated service-life extensions. The type was built for short, rough and icy regional runways, which is exactly why airlines like Southern Sky still use it. But its cockpit lacks most of the safety aids standard on modern turboprops, and its fleet-wide record is weak: an Angara Airlines An-24 flew into a forest near Tynda in Russia in July 2025, killing all 48 on board.

Age alone does not make an aircraft unsafe if inspections and maintenance are thorough. The problem is that we cannot see how thorough they are. The design bureau that supports the type is in Ukraine, and Southern Sky does not publish anything about its maintenance. The fleet scores 25, the lowest factor on this page.

What the record shows

The Aviation Safety Network lists no accident for Southern Sky, fatal or not, since 2014, and we found no reported serious incident. That is a real point in its favour. It is also a small sample. A few flights a week on short regional routes add up to far fewer flights in twelve years than a mid-sized airline flies in one, so we give the accident factor 80, below larger airlines with long clean records.

Kazakhstan's regulator has improved: every Kazakh airline was cleared from 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, and none is on the June 2026 list. But Southern Sky has no 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, Kazakhstan has no FAA rating because no Kazakh airline flies to the US, and the country's investigators publish many reports only in Russian. Oversight scores 66.

Where it flies

East Kazakhstan has long, cold winters, fog and snow. Semey and Ust-Kamenogorsk are regional centres with proper airports. Urzhar and Zaisan are small district airports near the Chinese border, where a flight in a 1970s turboprop is often the fastest link to the regional centre. The environment scores 50.

What to do if you need these routes

• Fly the long leg on a newer aircraft. Reach Semey or Ust-Kamenogorsk from Almaty or Astana on SCAT or another airline flying jets, and use Southern Sky only for the short final hop.
• Accept weather delays in winter. On an aircraft without modern approach aids, a hold or cancellation in fog is the crew doing its job.

How we scored it

The accident record (80) is clean but based on very few flights. Oversight (66) reflects a Kazakh regulator cleared by the EU but no 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 (25) is all An-24s, a Soviet type with a weak record. Incidents (62) are a thin record rather than a proven clean one, and the environment (50) reflects small airports and hard winters. Overall 63.