{"id":281269,"date":"2025-06-08T10:34:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T10:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airbus\/airbus-deliveries-airbus-updates-no-4496\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T10:34:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T10:34:59","slug":"airbus-deliveries-airbus-updates-no-4496","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=281269","title":{"rendered":"AIRBUS DELIVERIES: Airbus Updates No.4496"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Belarusian national carrier Belavia is\u00a0<\/span>expanding its fleet with Airbus A330s<\/a>, despite sanctions. How did the airline do this? Well, it bought planes from a Jordanian-Syrian businessman, from an airline registered in Gambia, which purchased the planes in a Turkish bankruptcy sale several years ago\u2026 as one does.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Belavia expanding fleet with three Airbus A330s<\/h2>\n

To start, let me explain that Belavia is the national airline of Belarus, and Belarus is Russia\u2019s closest alley. So just as Russia has been subject to sanctions, Belarus has been as well. Currently, Belavia has a fleet of roughly 15 aircraft, consisting primarily of Boeing 737s and Embraer E-jets.<\/p>\n

Much like Russian carriers, Belavia has been struggling with its fleet in recent years, given that the airline hasn\u2019t been able to access Airbus and Boeing aircraft or parts. For example, the carrier\u2019s fleet has shrunk by roughly half, as some leasing companies have repossessed their aircraft, in line with sanctions. Belavia has been looking for creative ways to grow its fleet, and it looks like the airline has accomplished exactly that.<\/p>\n

Belavia is currently in the process of taking delivery of three Airbus A330-200s. The three frames are an average of 23 years old, and they\u2019ll have the registration codes EW-587PD, EW-588PD, and EW-589PD. The planes all originally flew for Emirates, back in the day.<\/p>\n

Two of the planes are expected to start flying later in 2025, while the third is expected to start flying in 2026. The aircraft apparently aren\u2019t in good condition, both in terms of maintenance and passenger experience, so we\u2019ll see how that works out, given the lack of access to parts.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen what exactly Belavia will do with these aircraft. Presumably we\u2019ll only see service to \u201cfriendly\u201d countries, like China, Russia, etc. I\u2019m not sure if the airline really needs the range of these A330s, or if it\u2019s just about offering higher capacity aircraft.<\/p>\n

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Belavia is expanding with three Airbus A330s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fake Gambian airline Magic Air helped Belavia<\/h2>\n

The concept of aircraft being smuggled to sanctioned countries is nothing new. Russia, Iran, Syria, etc., have a lot of experience with this. As you\u2019d expect, no reputable leasing company would send planes to a sanctioned country, since it would impact their ability to do business elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the story here is quite interesting. Roughly five years ago, a Jordanian businessman of Syrian origin purchased three Airbus A330s from the bankruptcy estate of Onur Air, a Turkish airline that went out of business. He then started Magic Air, an \u201cairline\u201d based in Gambia.<\/p>\n

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