На русском языке:
В Иран улетел старейший Boeing «Белавиа», cамолёт Лукашенко находится в Минске
На беларускай мове:
У Іран паляцеў найстарэйшы Boeing «Белавія», самалёт Лукашэнка знаходзіцца ў Мінску
On March 26, we wrote that the plane from Lukashenka’s fleet, Boeing 737-800 with the registration number EW-001PA, which came under U.S. sanctions on March 24, made a rather unusual flight. According to public flight tracking services, this aircraft took off from Minsk National Airport on March 26 at 15:11, and then strange things began. First, the aircraft was identified under the call sign of the Iranian airline Caspian Airlines – IV2703 / CPN2703.
The takeoff of the plane on online radars on March 26, 2023
Then, when the plane was flying over Kazakhstan, another public online radar started identifying it as Boeing with registration number HZ-ARA from Saudi Arabia due to the fact that the plane was flying with ICAO-code of this country. This couldn’t be true, as Saudi Boeing HZ-ARA just arrived in Riyadh from Kuala Lumpur.
It got to the point where some of the online radar services that were tracking this flight started drawing a track like this.
Flight track of IV2703 / CPN2703 on March 26, 2023
The plane landed at 19:48 (Minsk time) in Iran, at the airport for domestic flights, the Iranian Air Force and government flights of that country – Tehran Mehrabad. That day we mistakenly assumed that flying under a different call sign and landing at an «unusual» airport in Iran might indicate that Lukashenka’s plane had been sold, but it turned out to be a bit more complicated than that.
Three days later, on March 29, we spotted a Boeing 737-800 with registration number EW-001PA from Lukashenka’s fleet, taking off again from MSQ and making a technical flight for 40 minutes.
The EW-001PA aircraft makes a technical flight on March 29, 2023
Then what plane flew to Iran?
Given that different air radars showed different planes, it is likely that the plane was somehow providing incorrect data in flight or the radars mistook it for another, but the reason is not clear.
In addition to registration numbers, aircraft also have individual ICAO HEX codes, by which they can also be identified. Lukashenka’s Boeing 737-800 (EW-001PA) has HEX code 51002B, while in flight the radar identified the plane as a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (HZ-ARA), which has HEX code 71002A. It turns out that there is a difference of two characters and, in theory, there is a possibility of error.
But if it was not Lukashenka’s plane, then some other Belarusian plane left, and it is quite possible that it was one of those that had not been operated for a long time, which would certainly increase the probability of error, and as it turned out, there were not many such planes. Only three planes of Belavia, which had not flown in recent years, fit our search criteria:
- EW-294PA, which has been in storage since 2019. The HEX code – 510051;
- EW-290PA, in storage since 2021. HEX code – 51004E;
- EW-250PA, was sold in 2021. HEX code – 51002A.
Having compared HEX codes it becomes obvious that the most suitable option is Boeing 737-500 (EW-250PA) with the code 51002A, which differs from the code of Lukashenka’s plane (51002B) by one symbol.
EW-250PA of Belavia in 2019 / Planespotters
It is notable that this is Belavia’s first Western plane, which is currently 27 years old. It was withdrawn from Belavia’s operation back in the summer of 2021, the airline then reported that during 17 years of operation (since 2003), Belavia performed 17,596 flights on it.
Operating data of EW-250PA for 17 years in Belavia / Belavia
In the same year, 2021, the plane was sold at auction for 3,098,771.35 BYN (about $1.264 million at the time). It was reported that one person became a bidder in the auction, but the details of the transaction, as well as who became the new owner, were not disclosed.
Thus, it turns out that after the sale the plane stayed in Belarus for 1.5 years and only now flew to its new owner in Iran? In Iran, the plane hasn’t taken to the air yet. Perhaps, it is now undergoing pre-flight training at the new owner or will be used for spare parts. If it starts flying, its registration number and ICAO HEX-code will change, and we will monitor it and tell you.
We should also note that tomorrow Lukashenka will go to see Putin, and on such trips he sometimes flies on a sanctioned aircraft (EW-001PA). We’ll see.
