Republic Unitary Enterprise "National Aircompany Belavia" (Belarusian: ??????????????? ????????? ????????????? «???????????? ???????????? «???????»; Russian: ??????????????? ????????? ??????????? «???????????? ???????????? «???????»), operating as Belavia Belarusian Airlines is the national airline company of Belarus, headquartered in Minsk. The state-owned company is the Belarusian flag carrier. Belavia serves a network of routes between European cities and the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as some Middle East destinations. Its base is Minsk International Airport. The airline has 1,017 employees. In the last six years, the airline has seen its passenger numbers double and in 2009 handled just under 700,000 customers.
§History
On 7 November 1933, the first Belarusian air terminal opened in Minsk. In the next spring 3 Po-2 aircraft landed in Minsk. They became the first aircraft of the Belarusian air fleet. In 1936 the first regular air route between Minsk and Moscow was established. In the summer of 1940 the Belarusian civil aviation group was officially founded.
In 1964, the Tupolev Tu-124 aircraft received Belarusian registration.
In 1973, the then new Tupolev Tu-134A began operating in Belarus. In 1983 Belarusian aviation started flying the new Tupolev Tu-154 planes.
On 1 February 1985, a Soviet Tupolev Tu-134 crashed near Minsk killing at least 58 out of 80 people on board. The accident happened due to clear ice ingestion into the engines as a result of inadequate deicing before takeoff. Both engines sustained serious damage and stalled.
The airline was officially founded on 5 March 1996 in accordance with a resolution of the Belarusian Government "About the restructuring of air transport of the Republic Belarus", when the local Aeroflot division was nationalised and renamed. Between then and 1998 Belavia opened regular routes to Beijing, Istanbul, Larnaca, London, Prague, and Rome.
In 1998, Belavia merged with Minsk Avia, acquiring several Antonov An-24, Antonov An-26 and Yakovlev Yak-40 aircraft in addition to existing fleet of Tupolev Tu-134 and Tupolev Tu-154 airplanes.
On 18 May 2001, Belavia commenced a Minsk-Paris scheduled service with Tu154s and Tu134s. In 2003 Belavia started publishing an in-flight magazine Horizons in English, Russian and Belarusian (partially).
On 16 October 2003, Belavia signed a leasing agreement for its first Boeing 737-500 aircraft.
In 2004, Belavia further extended operations and acquired one more Boeing 737. On 26 June 2004 Belavia opened a new route to Hanover, Germany. 2011 opened the airline its route between Minsk and Helsinki-Vantaa in Finland. This flight is a joint service with Finnair
Three leased Bombardier CRJ 100 aircraft were introduced on regional services from Minsk. The first one was delivered in February 2007, with the other two later in 2007. They directly replaced the aging Antonov An-24 and Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft.
The government is reportedly also considering merging regional carrier Gomelavia and cargo operator Trans Avia Export into Belavia.
§Destinations
Belavia flies to Asia, Europe and Africa from its base at Minsk International Airport. In addition to scheduled destinations listed here, Belavia operates charter flights to leisure destinations and VIP charters.
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Belavia has codeshare agreement with the following airlines (as of June 2013):
§Fleet
§Current
The current Belavia fleet consists mostly of newer western regional and short-to-medium range twinjets and Tupolev trijets. Western-built aircraft are used on all routes, unlike the Tupolevs, which are used mostly for charter services.
The fleet also includes governmental Boeing 767, Boeing BBJ2, Bombardier Challenger 850 and Tupolev Tu-154M.
As of June 2013, the Belavia fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Belavia Fleet
As of March 2013, the average age of western-built Belavia fleet was 14.5 years.
Belavia is considering adding longhaul aircraft to its fleet to introduce new routes to China and North America. It was looking to lease two Bombardier CRJ-700 in 2010.
Belavia had planned to retire its remaining Tupolev Tu-154Ms by 2011 (following the retirement of its last Tupolev Tu-134 in summer 2009 which was replaced by an ex-FlyLAL Boeing 737-500). However, as of June 2013 they are still operating flights in the ranges B2 833x and 834x to destinations in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece as well as occasional flights to Moscow (Domodedovo) and Milan (Malpensa). Throughout summer 2012 they operated charter flights to Izmir, Bodrum, Varna and Bourgas and scheduled flights to Gomel, Moscow and Frankfurt.
On 27 June. 2014 an order was announced for three Boeing Next Generation 737-800 models to be acquired directly by Belavia.
§Past fleet
§Incidents and accidents
- On 6 January 2003, a Yakovlev Yak-40 suffered a shattered windshield during flight, en route to Prague. Two Czech Air Force fighters accompanied the plane to a safe landing in Ruzyn? International Airport.
- On 14 February 2008, Belavia Flight 1834, a Bombardier CRJ-100ER en route from Yerevan, Armenia, to Minsk hit its left wing on the runway during takeoff from Zvartnots International Airport, subsequently crashing on the ground, flipping over and coming to a stop inverted near the runway. All 18 passengers and 3 crew members managed to escape the aircraft before it erupted into flames, partly due to the timely response of the fire and rescue crew at the airport. The main cause of the crash was icing contamination leading to a stall of the left wing.
§References
§External links
- Official website
- Belavia Fleet
- Belavia on Facebook
- Belavia on Twitter
Interesting Informations
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