Xizang Airlines (Tibet Airlines)

Is Tibet Airlines safe?

Mostly yes, but with more risk built into its network than most Chinese airlines. Tibet Airlines, which started using the English name Xizang Airlines in 2026, has had no fatal accident since it began flying from Lhasa in 2011. It is an IATA member, so it passes the IATA safety audit. We score it 76.

Two things hold it below airlines such as Sichuan Airlines (84). In 2022 it lost an A319 that ran off the runway and caught fire at Chongqing, and the investigation put the cause on the crew. And much of its flying begins or ends at an airport on the Tibetan plateau, some of them above 4,000 m.

What happened at Chongqing in 2022?

On the morning of 12 May 2022, flight TV9833, an Airbus A319 with 113 passengers and 9 crew, was taking off from Chongqing for Nyingchi. Near decision speed, the first officer, who was flying, held left rudder to keep straight. The captain was distracted by objects falling in the cockpit and, without noticing, also pressed the left rudder. The aircraft swung left.

The crew made none of the standard calls. The captain pulled the thrust levers back and braked hard, but the jet left the runway at about 127 knots. The nose gear broke on a manhole cover and a taxiway shoulder, and the aircraft hit an open drainage ditch about 120 m from the runway. Both engines and the main gear tore off, and fire broke out at the front left. Everyone got out down the slides. China's regulator, the CAAC, said 36 people had minor injuries. 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.

The CAAC's final report, in Chinese only, called it an accident caused by human error. Weather was calm. That makes it a harder mark against the airline than a hull loss caused by wind shear or by someone else: we score the accident record 82, below Capital Airlines (85), whose one write-off came in wind shear at Macau.

How hard are its airports?

Very. The airline's booking page names five Tibetan airports it sells tickets to: Lhasa, Nyingchi, Bamda, Ngari and Shigatse. China calls any airport above 2,438 m a high-plateau airport, and all five are well above that. Lhasa sits at about 3,600 m. Bamda in Qamdo, at 4,334 m, and Ngari Gunsa, at 4,274 m, are among the highest airports in the world. Nyingchi lies in a river valley among high mountains.

Thin air means engines and wings produce less, so take-off runs are longer, landing speeds over the ground are higher and aircraft often fly part-empty out of the highest fields. Winds over the mountains change fast. The CAAC only allows aircraft, crews and procedures specially approved for these airports, with strict weather limits. That system works, but the margin for error is small, and the environment factor (58) is well below Chengdu Airlines and Kunming Airlines (66).

The 2024 Lhasa event shows it. On 22 February 2024 an A319 from Mianyang veered left on landing on runway 28R in strong, gusty wind, and its nose gear struck two runway edge lights. The CAAC rated it a serious incident. Its report found a sudden crosswind halfway down the runway, rudder that bites less in thin air, and crew whose perception was dulled by lack of oxygen and dim light.

Other incidents

• December 2020. The training captain on a flight from Nanjing to Chengdu felt unwell and became incapacitated. The second captain on board landed early at Chengdu; the captain, 39, died in hospital. This was a medical event, not an accident, and it does not count in our score.
• October 2019. The right windshield of an A330-200 cracked at about 11,000 m near Guiyang, and the crew diverted there safely.
• May 2023. An A319 returned to Shenzhen with smoke in the cabin, traced to an air-conditioning fault.

We score serious incidents 66. The record we found is short, but the CAAC publishes few reports, and a quiet record from a regulator that says little is not proof of a clean one.

What does it fly?

Only Airbus aircraft. The core is the A319, fitted with more powerful CFM56 engines for high airports, which China News Service counted at 21 of 32 aircraft in 2019. Newer A319neos, A320s and a few A330-200s for trunk routes have joined since. The airline publishes no current fleet table or average age, so the fleet factor (76) rests on the type mix.

In 2024 it signed with COMAC for 40 C919 and 10 ARJ21 jets in high-plateau versions, as launch customer. None has been delivered. If they come, they will be new versions of types with short records (see our note on the ARJ21), and we will not count them as proven modern aircraft.

Who owns and oversees it?

The airline is based in Lhasa, and Air China holds a stake in it: Air China lists it as an associate, not a subsidiary. It flies under its own TV code and certificate, so its record is its own. It is overseen by the CAAC. China holds FAA Category 1FAA 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, 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, and the airline is an IATA member, which requires 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. We score oversight 80, as for other Chinese airlines with IOSA.

How we scored it

The accident record (82) is the strongest factor, though it is docked for the 2022 Chongqing write-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 its crew causes. Oversight (80) is close behind, and the operating environment (58) is the weakest. Incidents (66) reflect the 2024 Lhasa excursion and how little China publishes. Overall 76.

If you fly to Lhasa from sea level, the aircraft is not the only thing working at altitude: you are too. Take altitude sickness seriously, drink water and avoid alcohol on the first day, and talk to a doctor before the trip if you have heart or lung problems.