UNI Air

Is UNI Air safe?

Yes. UNI Air, the island and domestic airline of Taiwan's Evergreen group, has not had a fatal accident in 20 years, and it flies one current type, the ATR 72-600. We score it 80, the same as China Airlines and below its sister EVA Air (88). The weak spot is a pattern in its accidents: crews have damaged aircraft by not following procedures, most recently in 2021, when an ATR hit a wall short of the runway on Matsu.

What happened at Nangan in 2021?

On 10 May 2021, flight B7-9091 from Taipei Songshan, an ATR 72-600 with 74 people on board, was flying a non-precision approach to runway 21 at Nangan in the Matsu islands. Low cloud and sea fog covered the area in front of the runway. The first officer was flying on autopilot and, focused on the cockpit, lost track of how low the aircraft was. When it went into the cloud and the runway disappeared, the rules called for an immediate go-around. The crew kept descending, and the captain said nothing.

The go-around came at 229 feet, 11 feet above the runway threshold. Before the aircraft could climb, its right main wheels and tail skid struck the top of a wall at the edge of the runway area. The crew climbed away, flew back to Songshan, did a low pass so the tower could look at the damaged gear, and landed safely. Nobody was hurt. ASN lists the aircraft as 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 TTSB report describes substantial damage.

The TTSB found that UNI Air's safety monitoring met the regulator's requirements but could not pick up crews drifting from standard procedures on final approach, and told the airline to strengthen it and its controls on flying into terrain. Under our rules this accident counts in the accident score, and the findings behind it are not counted a second time under incidents.

Is this a pattern?

Partly. The TTSB has named crew lapses at UNI Air before:

• Taoyuan, April 2008. On take-off in an MD-90, the first officer raised the gear lever before the aircraft had left the ground. The gear doors scraped the runway and tyres burst. The TTSB said the crew had skipped standard calls and that UNI Air's training on procedures was not working as it should.
• Taoyuan, May 2011. A UNI Air MD-90, flown by UNI Air pilots on EVA flight number BR806 from Macau, drifted off the right edge of the runway in a gusting crosswind and broke four edge lights. The spoilers had not deployed because they were not armed, and the crew had not made the required calls. Controllers also missed changes in the wind. The TTSB names UNI Air as the operator, and the aircraft and crew were UNI Air's, so it counts here and not on the EVA page.
• Tainan, June 2011. A Dash 8 landed on the wrong one of two parallel runways in heavy rain. The first officer noticed, but did not call for a go-around.

One serious event was not the airline's fault: in February 2009, a Dash 8 engine caught fire on the take-off run at Magong because of a manufacturing defect in a turbine blade. The crew stopped, and everyone was evacuated with one minor injury.

Since 2021 the record has been quiet. An ATR returned to Kinmen with an engine warning in March 2023, and we found no regulator fine against UNI Air for a safety lapse in the last ten years.

Which flights are really UNI Air?

UNI Air's own certificate covers its ATRs on 16 domestic routes, about 60% of Taiwan's domestic market. Some of its regional flights use Airbus A321s wet-leased from EVA Air, with EVA's aircraft and crews; events on those count on the EVA page. The ATR fleet is changing: in July 2025 UNI Air ordered 19 new ATR 72-600s worth US$437 million, to arrive from 2027 to 2032 and grow the fleet from 14 to 19 by 2029.

UNI Air's last fatal accident was in 1999. Gasoline hidden in bleach bottles in a passenger's cabin bag exploded as an MD-90 landed at Hualien, and one passenger died. It is outside our 20-year window.

How hard are UNI Air's routes?

Some of the hardest in Taiwan. Kinmen, Nangan, Beigan and Magong have short runways near the sea, and fog and low cloud close them for hours at a time; in the first half of June 2024, only 55% of UNI Air's Matsu flights could operate. Birds are a constant risk: the airline counted 16 strikes from 2015 to mid-2024 that damaged propeller blades or grounded an aircraft. In October 2026, a military exercise closed airspace around Taichung and UNI Air had to retime its flights from there to Kinmen and Penghu. No EASA conflict-zone bulletin covers Taiwan.

How to fly UNI Air safely

For Matsu, book the first flight of the day between March and June, when fog is worst, and keep a spare day before anything you cannot miss. If the airline cancels or holds a flight for weather, take it as the right call: the 2021 accident began with a crew pressing on into cloud. Between July and October, check the flight status on the UNI Air app before leaving for the airport, because typhoons close the island airports at short notice.

How we scored it

The accident record (80) has no deaths in 20 years but one hull lossHull 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 two earlier damage accidents caused by crew lapses. Oversight (84) matches the other 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 Taiwanese airlines. The fleet (78) is one current type of mixed age, with new aircraft coming. Serious incidents (78) are few in the last ten years, and the environment (76) reflects the island airports. Overall 80. Compare Mandarin Airlines, which flies the same islands.