Turkish Airlines

Is Turkish Airlines safe?

Yes, but its record has more dents than the European airlines it competes with. Turkish flies a modern fleet to more countries than any other airline, and no passenger has died on one of its flights since February 2009. Since then it has 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 three more passenger jets and one of its own freighters in runway accidents, and a freighter crash at Bishkek in 2017 under its cargo brand killed 39 people. We score it 71, with medium confidence because the Turkish regulator publishes less than its European counterparts.

What happened on TK1951?

The last fatal crash is still the most instructive. On 25 February 2009, a Boeing 737-800 from Istanbul was on approach to Amsterdam Schiphol when its left radio altimeter suddenly read minus 8 feet. The autothrottle took this to mean the aircraft was about to touch down and pulled the engines to idle. The crew, flying a short, high approach, did not notice the speed decaying for about 100 seconds. When the stall warning came, it was too late to recover, and the 737 fell into a field about 1.5 km short of the runway. Nine people died, including all three pilots; 126 survived.

The Dutch Safety Board blamed the crew's failure to monitor airspeed, as well as Boeing's design, which let one faulty sensor command the autothrottle.

A run of runway accidents

Since 2009, Turkish has 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 four more aircraft, none with deaths:

• October 2010, Casablanca: an A310 freighter flown by Turkish itself veered off the runway on landing and was written off.
• March 2015, Kathmandu: TK726, an Airbus A330-300, landed in fog at Kathmandu on a second approach, veered off the runway and collapsed its nose gear. All 238 people got out; the aircraft was scrapped.
• April 2015, Istanbul: TK1878, an A320, was badly damaged in a landing accident at Atatürk Airport; everyone was evacuated unhurt.
• November 2019, Odesa: TK467, a 737-800, collapsed its nose gear landing in strong crosswinds; the aircraft was a hull loss.

Five hull losses in about 17 years is more than Lufthansa (two), British Airways (one) or KLM (none) have had since 2009, according to ASN. It is the main reason the accident record scores 64.

The deadliest event under the Turkish brand in our window was on 16 January 2017. Flight TK6491, a Boeing 747 freighter flown under a wet lease by ACT Airlines for Turkish Cargo, landed far beyond the runway in fog at Bishkek and crashed into a village, killing the four crew and 35 people on the ground. ACT held the operating certificate, but the flight carried Turkish's flight number, and we take it into account.

Serious incidents since 2016

No one has died, but the same kinds of event keep coming back. A321neos struck their tails on landing or go-around at Dublin in October 2024 and July 2025 and at Prague in May 2025. Jets ran off runways at Pristina (2016), Lviv and Port Harcourt (2019). In February 2023, a 777 near Keflavik hit severe turbulence and lost height, injuring seven people, and in June 2026 a 777-300ER's right wing struck and toppled a radar mast while taxiing at Antalya. Mechanical events, such as the engine fire warning on an A330 from Kathmandu that diverted to Kolkata in February 2026, have been handled well. The pattern of handling errors is why serious incidents score 66.

A modern fleet

Turkish's investor site lists 568 aircraft for the group in 2026, including the AJet low-cost subsidiary and 28 freighters. All 144 widebodies are current types: A350-900s, 787-9s, 777-300ERs and A330s. Of the 396 narrowbodies, 205 are A321neo-family or 737 MAX jets, and hundreds more are on order. The A330s and older 737-800s and A321ceos are the oldest aircraft. Turkish does not publish a single average age, but the type mix is among the more modern of the big network airlines.

Who oversees Turkish Airlines?

Türkiye's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (SHGM) 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, and no Turkish 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. As an IATA member, Turkish 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. ICAO audited Türkiye in September 2023, but SHGM has not published the score. Türkiye is not part of the EASA system, so Turkish Airlines is certified to Turkish rules that follow ICAO standards rather than directly under EU law.

Flying Turkish: what helps

• Check the operator. AJet (VF), the low-cost arm, and wet-lease partners fly some routes sold by Turkish.
• Plan for disruption on Middle East routes. The conflict involving Iran in early 2026 disrupted flights across the Middle East; check the airline's travel alerts before you leave.
• On long-haul flights, keep the belt fastened while seated. As on every airline, turbulence is the most likely in-flight injury.

How we scored it

A modern fleet (84) and 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 help. Five hull lossesHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary since 2009 (accident record 64), repeated tail strikesTail 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 and runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary (incidents 66), less transparent oversight (80) and a demanding network (72) pull the overall score to 71. Compare Emirates, a competing hub airline that scores higher, and Ethiopian Airlines, which scores lower.