Spring Airlines

Is Spring Airlines safe?

Yes. Spring Airlines, the Shanghai low-cost airline that calls itself one of China's largest private carriers and the leading budget airline in North-East Asia, has flown since 2005 without a fatal accident or a lost aircraft. Its fleet is a single type, 138 Airbus A320-family jets averaging 8.7 years. We score it 84, close to China Southern (85) and above China Eastern (71).

The catch is how much we cannot see. Spring is not an IATA member, so its 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 status is not confirmed, and China's regulator publishes few incident reports. A clean public record from a quiet regulator is not the same as a clean record.

What is Spring's accident record?

The Aviation Safety Network has no accident on record for Spring Airlines. The most serious event we found was at Xiamen on 6 June 2014. Flight 9C8945, an A320 from Huai'an with 178 passengers and 6 crew, was landing in moderate to heavy rain with gusting winds when visibility dropped on short final. The right main gear touched down about 857 m along the runway and 4.4 m beyond its right edge.

The crew decided to go around, but rotated with the speed down to 97 knots, and the tail scraped the ground. The jet was airborne after its right main gear had run 617 m beside the runway, received a wind shear warning just after lift-off, and landed on the opposite runway 26 minutes later. Nobody was hurt; the aircraft was substantially damaged. The details come from the CAAC's preliminary findings as reported by AeroInside. We could not find a final report.

Under international rules that event is an accident, not just an incident, and it is why we score Spring's record at 92 rather than at the top of the band. It is also more than 12 years old.

How busy are Spring's aircraft?

Very. Spring's interim report gives an average of 10.73 flight hours per aircraft per day in the first half of 2026, up from 9.74 a year earlier, against an industry average of 8.9 hours. That is normal for a low-cost airline: the business model depends on keeping aircraft in the air. High use is not unsafe in itself, but it leaves less slack for maintenance, which is why South Korea's regulator watched aircraft use closely after the 2024 Jeju Air crash. Spring reported no major accident in the half-year and 260,795 hours of safe flying.

What does Spring fly?

Only A320-family jets, which keeps training and maintenance simple: one type rating for pilots, one set of spares. At 30 June 2026 the fleet was 74 A320ceos, 52 A320neos and 12 A321neos with 240 seats. Spring bought 100 of them; the rest are leased. It took five A320neos and retired one ceo in the first half of 2026, so the average age should keep falling. Most A320s have 186 seats, which makes for tight rows.

Who oversees Spring Airlines?

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). China holds FAA 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 Category 1 (April 2025 list), no Chinese 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 (June 2026), and China told the ICAO Assembly that its 2024 ICAO audit gave it 90.19% effective implementationICAO USOAPICAO's audit of how well each country's aviation regulator oversees safety. The result is an "effective implementation" percentage.More in the glossary. The gap is 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 big Chinese airlines are IATA members, which requires the audit; Spring is not, and we found no statement that it holds IOSA registration. Peach in Japan is in the same position. We score Spring's oversight 76, four points below the IOSA-registered Chinese airlines.

How to fly Spring Airlines safely

Spring's routes are mostly short: 212 domestic routes from Shanghai and other Chinese cities, and 47 international routes, mainly to Japan, South Korea and South-East Asia. In the summer typhoon and thunderstorm season, flights around Shanghai can be delayed or cancelled; book an early flight so a cancellation leaves you a later one. Keep your belt fastened whenever you are seated; it is the simplest protection against turbulence on any airline.

How we scored it

The accident record (92) is clean of deaths and lost aircraft over 21 years, docked for the 2014 Xiamen 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. The young single-type fleet (88) is the strongest factor after that. Oversight (76) and incidents (76) are held down by what is not published: no confirmed 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 and a regulator that releases few reports. Overall 84.