На русском языке:
Санкции ещё не ввели, а Belavia уже лишилась 10 самолётов за 3 недели
На беларускай мове:
Санкцыі яшчэ не ўвялі, а Belavia ўжо пазбавілася 10 самалётаў за 3 тыдні
Belavia Airlines is one of the candidates for coming under the 5th package of the EU sanctions. Talks have been held for a decent period of time about the expansion of sanctions on the airline, probably one of the first mentions of the issue discussion was the publication of Franak Viacorka, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s adviser. On September 4, he said that the 5th package is already in development, and at a meeting of representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the EU countries, increasing pressure on the airline would be discussed, but at that time it was not yet known what it would look like.
On October 18, Politico published an article saying that the new sanctions, if imposed, would prohibit European companies from dealing with the Belarusian air carrier. In fact, this means that Belavia will lose a significant part of its fleet, which was long-term leased through Irish companies. In mid-November, the EU expanded the criteria for imposing sanctions against Minsk, the statement did not disclose any details, but on the same day Simon Coveni, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, confirmed to Reuters that the new EU sanctions against Belarus will include the breaking of leasing contracts with Belavia. And he said that 17 of 30 aircraft in the Belavia fleet were leased through companies in Ireland.
Illustrational photo / Belavia.by
It should be noted that according to official information on the air carrier’s website, the Belavia air fleet has 29 aircraft:
- 1 — Boeing 737-8 MAX;
- 9 — Boeing 737-800;
- 1 — Boeing 737-500;
- 3 — Boeing 737-300;
- 3 — Embraer 195-E2;
- 7 — Embraer 195;
- 5 — Embraer 175;
But the most interesting thing is that after the information of Politico, the airline seems to have real problems, which intensified after accusations of involvement in illegal migration and the migration crisis at the borders with the EU.
We have already told that on October 26, Belavia sent to Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, all three of its newest Embraer E195-E2 aircraft with registration numbers EW-555PO, EW-560PO and EW-563PO. One of them (EW-563PO) is in the anniversary livery of Belavia. According to our information, due to sanctions, the Brazilian manufacturer did not provide the company with an updated database, without which aircraft cannot fly. For this reason, Belavia was forced to get rid of them.
Embraer E195-E2 aircraft of Belavia Airlines / flightradar24
But 3 boards of the Embraer E195-E2 is not the only loss. For the period from 8 to 11 November, the airline sent 4 of its Boeing 737-800 to Turkey. These are aircraft with registration numbers: EW-526PA (departed on November 8), EW-438PA (departed on November 9), EW-437PA (departed on November 10) and EW-543PA (departed on November 11).
Boeing 737-800 aircraft with number EW-543PA flies from Minsk to Istanbul, 11.11.2021 / flightradar24
Just a week later, two more Embraer E175LRs with registration numbers EW-341PO and EW-340PO were transported to Azerbaijan on November 17 and 18.
Updated: On the evening of November 19, after the release of the investigation, another Embraer E195LR with registration number EW-532PO flew from Minsk to Baku. The board landed in the capital of Azerbaijan at 18:53. Thus, as at 19:00 on November 19, 10 Belavia airlines were sent for storage or transferred to partners in other countries.
Embraer E175LR aircraft with number EW-340PO flies from Minsk to Baku, 18.11.2021 / flightradar24
It’s also interesting what happened to the latest Boeing 737 MAX 8 (EW-528PA), which managed to fly on commercial flights for only seven days in May 2021. Belavia should probably get rid of it as well. But there is a problem: the way to the EU and Ukraine is closed, and in Russia the model is still not certified and doesn’t have access to the airspace, that is, this aircraft can’t fly outside Belarus at all. Since then, this board once a month rises into the air for training flights of the crew. By the way, in November, this Boeing has not yet flew.
Boeing 737 MAX 8 (EW-528PA) of Belavia Airlines / Lukasz Jagodzinski
According to information received from sources of motolko.help, this aircraft is planned to be re-registered for a new operator, most likely it will be some airline from the EU countries. And only after that EW-528PA will be able to leave Belarus.
Thus, the airline has 7 more leasing aircraft, it is unknown what will happen to them at the moment. It is also worth saying that just today, Mathias Lutenberg, the representative of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking at the Minsk forum in Berlin, said that at the moment Belavia remains under the fifth package of the EU sanctions against the regime in Belarus.
If you have any additional information about the Belavia fleet and any other details about the aviation of Belarus, please write to @motolko_bot
