Belarus’ Belavia takes delivery of its first direct-purchased E175
With the delivery of a brand new Embraer E175LR, Belorussia’s flag carrier has kicked-off its 2018 fleet renewal initiative.
Two more E-Jets – the bigger E195 variants — are planned to join Belavia’s fleet in May and June, taking the airline’s Brazil-made fleet to seven jets by mid-summer. As a part of its fleet renewal programme, Belavia is to phase-out a single Boeing 737−300 and a Bombardier CRJ-200 later this year.
Belavia’s first direct-purchased E175 from Embraer arrived at the airline’s Minsk airport base on April 19th. The GE CF34-8E-powered E175LR (construction number MSN 721, tail number EW-512PO) has a two-class layout offering 12 seats in the business class cabin and 64 in economy. Its first revenue flight is scheduled for April 24.
Belarus’ major carrier received its first E-Jet in 2012 and, with the addition of EW-512PO, now operates three E175s and two E195s. Apart from two more previously announced E195s, also direct-purchased from Embraer, the airline is to lease an additional five brand new Embraers — the three E195s and two E175s —from Danish lessor Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC). It means Belavia’s fleet will reach a total of 12 E-Jets when the five latest aircraft join its ranks from April of next year.
Belavia-Belarusian Airlines’ fleet now consists of 27 aircraft, including five Boeing 737-800s, six B737-500s, seven B737-300s, three Embraer E175s, two E195s and four Bombardier CRJ200LR/ERs.
The airline carried three million passengers in 2017, up 20.6 per cent on the previous year.
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