Wamos Air

Is Wamos Air safe?

Yes. Wamos Air has flown since 2003, first as Pullmantur Air, without an accident or a written-off aircraft, and it holds a Spanish certificate under European rules plus IATA's 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 safety audit. Two things hold the score back: its 13 Airbus A330s average about 17 years old, and in September 2026 one of them descended too low on an approach to La Réunion, an event France's investigators are still looking into. We score it 81.

Few passengers book Wamos Air directly. It is a wet-lease or ACMI company: it rents out aircraft together with crew, maintenance and insurance, and the seats are sold under another airline's name.

Who flies with Wamos Air?

Since October 2024 Wamos has belonged to Abra Group, the holding company of Avianca and GOL. Abra did not say how large its stake is; EU rules cap non-European ownership of an EU airline at 49.99%, and Wamos kept its own management and certificate.

Its 2026 work shows how far a wet-lease crew travels. For Avianca it flew San Salvador to Madrid four times a week between June and September, and from 26 October 2026 it flies one of the three daily Bogotá to New York JFK flights (AV244/245), first with an A330-200 and from 25 November with an A330-300. For GOL it flies A330-200 EC-NBN between Rio de Janeiro and New York, and since 16 September EC-MAJ between Rio and Lisbon. LATAM based Wamos A330s and crews in Santiago from November 2024, and French Bee used one to La Réunion.

Under our wet-lease rule, an event on any of these flights counts on this page, because Wamos's certificate and crew fly them. Avianca, GOL and LATAM describe such events, but they do not count against their scores.

From Pullmantur to Wamos

Pullmantur Air received its Spanish air operator certificate in 2003 to fly passengers for the Pullmantur cruise and tour group, which Royal Caribbean bought in 2006. It grew with Boeing 747-400s on routes to Cancún, Punta Cana and Santo Domingo, passed 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 in 2012 and became Wamos Air in 2014 after a change of owner. The call sign stayed PULLMAN and the ICAO code PLM. In 2019 it flew five 747s and seven A330-200s; by 2022 the jumbos were gone and the fleet was all A330.

In more than 20 years we found nothing in the Aviation Safety Network data that would count as an accident, and AeroInside lists only the 2026 La Réunion event under Wamos Air. We also checked the BEA's whole register of notified events, which includes foreign investigations: it holds one Wamos case.

What happened at La Réunion?

On 3 September 2026, A330-200 EC-ORP was flying French Bee's BF5700 overnight from Paris Orly to La Réunion. On the way the crew lost satellite navigation and chose a conventional approach on the island's VOR beacon. The controller saw the aircraft drift well off the published path and descend below 3,000 feet, and ordered an immediate climb as it approached 1,000 feet. It climbed back to 3,000 feet and set up for a new approach to runway 14 about 20 minutes later. Nobody was hurt.

The BEA rated it an incident, filed it under controlled flight into or toward terrain and a non-engine system failure, and opened an investigation (file BEA2026-0389). La Réunion is a mountainous island, so a low, off-track approach there is a real warning, even with the satellite outage as context. Satellite interference is now common on long routes, and how the crew flew the backup approach is what the report will need to explain. It costs Wamos points in incidents (74), and we will update the page when the report appears.

How old are the planes?

The company lists 13 A330s: eight A330-300s and five A330-200s. The oldest, EC-NOF and EC-NOG, were built in 2006; the newest, EC-NTX, in 2015. EC-ORP, the jet in the La Réunion incident, is not on that list, which suggests the fleet changes faster than the website. Wamos runs its own EASA-approved maintenance and engineering departments, and the whole fleet is approved for ETOPS-180 flights over water. The A330 is a proven fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary design, but an average age around 17 years puts Wamos behind airlines flying A330neos or 787s, and Abra's seven new A330-900s are going to Avianca and GOL, not to Wamos. The fleet scores 60.

Before you board a Wamos flight

• Expect a different cabin. A Wamos A330 keeps its own seats and entertainment. On Avianca's Bogotá to New York flight it replaces a 787, so business class and legroom may not match what you booked.
• Check the registration. An A330 with an EC- registration on an Avianca, GOL or LATAM flight means Wamos is flying you. Flight trackers show the registration on the day.
• Allow time for disruption. A wet-lease jet that breaks down far from Madrid needs a replacement flown in, so leave room before a tight onward connection.

How we scored it

More than 20 years without an accident (90) and EU oversight with 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 (90) carry the score. The La Réunion approach keeps incidents at 74, the ageing A330 fleet scores 60, and the environment (66) reflects crews sent at short notice to high-altitude Bogotá, mountainous La Réunion and wherever else a client needs them. Overall 81. Compare World2fly, another Spanish A330 and A350 wet-lease airline.