Aircraft/Boeing
Is the Boeing 737-700 safe?
The honest safety record for the Boeing 737-700, straight from the accident data. Context, not spin.
Informational only. Not safety, operational, or travel advice. These are estimates from public records, provided as-is; see our terms & disclaimer.
0.07
modelled fatal rate / million flights
31.0M
flights flown since 1998
2 / 3
fatal accidents / hull losses on record
The rate is the model's shrinkage-adjusted estimate, the same figure used in a flight's score, not a raw count ÷ flights ratio. See the methodology.
Specifications
What the record shows
The 737-700 is the short-fuselage member of Boeing's Next Generation family and entered revenue service with Southwest Airlines in January 1998, after delivery of the first aircraft in December 1997. Across roughly 1,135 commercial airframes and an estimated 31 million departures it has recorded three hull losses and two accidents with occupant fatalities: the 2010 AIRES landing accident at San Andres, Colombia, which killed two of 131 aboard, and the 2018 Southwest Airlines engine failure over Pennsylvania, which killed one of 149 aboard. Both fatal events were survivable, and the type holds the Next Generation family's 180 minute ETOPS approval granted by the FAA in September 1999.
Who flies the Boeing 737-700, and how old theirs are
Counted from individual airframes in our registry, with build years from public registries and sourced references. An age appears only where we can date at least three of that airline's Boeing 737-700 aircraft; otherwise we say so rather than estimate.
The oldest Boeing 737-700 we can date in an airline fleet was built in 1997, about 29 years ago. The oldest airframes of a type reach every inspection milestone first. How planes are checked
| Airline | In our registry | Average age |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 319 | 20.8 yrs |
| United Airlines | 40 | 27.5 yrs |
| WestJet | 39 | 18.6 yrs |
| Alaska Airlines | 14 | 26.3 yrs |
| Gol Linhas Aéreas | 13 | 20 yrs |
| Virgin Australia | 9 | 16.8 yrs |
| Aeroméxico | 5 | 21.1 yrs |
| Ethiopian Airlines | 3 | 22.3 yrs |
| Copa Airlines | 2 | not enough dated |
| Saudia | 2 | not enough dated |
| Delta Air Lines | 2 | not enough dated |
| KLM | 1 | not enough dated |