Aircraft/Boeing
Is the Boeing 737-900 safe?
In short: the Boeing 737-900 has no fatal accidents and no hull losses on record. Here is the full picture, with the underlying numbers.
Informational only. Not safety, operational, or travel advice. These are estimates from public records, provided as-is; see our terms & disclaimer.
0.05
modelled fatal rate / million flights
8.3M
flights flown since 2001
0 / 0
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 737-900 and the longer-range 737-900ER are the stretched members of Boeing's Next Generation family, in service since 2001 with Alaska Airlines and since 2007 with Lion Air respectively. In an estimated 8.3 million departures the type has recorded no accidents with occupant fatalities and no hull losses. Its most serious events on record are runway excursions at Yogyakarta in 2015, Kathmandu in 2018 and Lampung in 2020, in each of which the aircraft was repaired and everyone on board survived uninjured.
Engine programme: Fleet-years times typical annual cycles, same method as the existing B738 row. Built: 52 x 737-900 plus 505 x 737-900ER = 557 commercial deliveries (Boeing orders and deliveries via Wikipedia, June 2026), excluding 7 BBJ3. 737-900: deliveries 2001 to about 2008, weighted mean delivery about 2003; with retirements (38 of 52 still active as of August 2024) average effective service life is about 20 EXCLUSIONS: No events were excluded under the deliberate-act policy: there have been no shoot-downs, missile strikes, bombings, hijack-into-target events or confirmed crew murder-suicide involving the 737-900 or 737-900ER. The counts of fatal=0 and hull=0 are therefore identical with and without the exclusion policy. CRITICAL SCOPING NOTE: the Boeing 737 MAX 9 is a different type with ICAO code B39M and must
Who flies the Boeing 737-900, 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 737-900 aircraft; otherwise we say so rather than estimate.
| Airline | In our registry | Average age |
|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 81 | 9.6 yrs |
| Korean Air | 20 | 20.5 yrs |
| Alaska Airlines | 17 | 8.3 yrs |
| Jin Air | 2 | not enough dated |
| United Airlines | 1 | not enough dated |