Belavia news

05 March 2021

Anniversary of Belavia Belarusian Airlines – 25 years – 25 facts

On March 5, 2021, Belavia Belarusian Airlines celebrates its 25th anniversary. In honor of this event, we have prepared for you 25 interesting facts about the Airlines.

1. March 5, 1996 is the date of birth of the Company. On this day, the Republican Unitary Enterprise National Belavia Belarusian Airlines was established based on the Belarusian Association of Civil Aviation. In 2014 the RUE National Belavia Belarusian Airlines was reorganized into OJSC Belavia Belarusian Airlines.

2. On October 15, 2003, the fleet of the Airlines was replenished with the first aircraft Boeing 737-500. It was the beginning of a large-scale program for the transition to the Western made aircraft.

3. On August 15, 2016, Belavia presented the rebranding of the Airlines: on this day the first Boeing 737-800 in the new “cornflower-blue” livery landed at the Airport.

4. In January 2015 Belavia began a new stage in the development of the Airlines: the new generation aircraft Classic was put out of operation, and the aircraft of a new generation Boeing, which differs by more cost-effectiveness, flying range and increased comfort for passengers started to replace them.

5. In 2011 the passenger traffic for the first time exceeded one million passengers. The millionth passenger performed the flight on the Minsk-Berlin route. In 2019, Belavia Belarusian Airlines carried over four million passengers for the first time.

6. On September 17, 2012, with the landing of a new Embraer 175 in Minsk the program of fleet renewal of the Airlines was launched, which was connected with the acquisition of new aircraft. The first commercial flight of Embraer 175 was performed on September 21 on the Minsk-Amsterdam-Minsk route.

7. In December 2009 onboard the aircraft appeared the first issue of the magazine “Belavia OnAir”. By now, more than 130 issues of the board magazine have been published. In July 2016, one of the issues of «Belavia OnAir» in the backpack of the employee Pavel Semyonov conquered the western summit of Elbrus. Half of the pages out of the edition had to be ripped out of the edition to lighten the weight.

8. On August 12, 1997, Belavia became a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which proves the Airlines compliance with the international standards.

9. . On July 29, 2016, the first aircraft painted in the corporate colors of the game “World of Tanks” landed at Minsk National Airport. 13 specialists have been working upon the painting, the process took 1800 hours, and 300 liters of paint and 450 m2 of stencils were used for the original livery. On December 12, 2018 the fleet was renewed with a second aircraft with an unusual livery. It was the world’s first aircraft fully branded with a computer game. The main idea of the branded livery is to show that the game, known all over the world, is from Belarus.

10. On April 18 and 25, 2019, the fleet of the Airlines was renewed with three new aircraft Embraer 195/175, which arrived in Minsk directly from the manufacturer plant in Brazil.

11. In November 2009 the Airlines launched the new corporate site with the possibility to buy tickets in real-time. Belavia became the first Belarusian enterprise, introduced selling online.

12. In 2002 there was signed the first “code-sharing” agreement with Austrian Airlines, which laid the beginning of the active collaboration with foreign partners.

13. Belavia transported a lemur, ocelot, crocodile, lion cub, Steller’s sea eagle, listed on the Red book, and half a ton of turtles from Tashkent to Italy.

14. In 2009 the Belavia Lider loyalty program was launched. At present, more than 250 000 people from 134 countries of the world are registered in the loyalty program. The record number of flight segments per year of one participant is 190, and the oldest participant is over 90 years.

15. In February 2020 the Airlines signed an agreement on the supply of three aircraft of a new generation Embraer 195-E2. The first aircraft of this type replenished the fleet on December 23, 2020. Belavia became the seventh airline in the world, performing flights on the aircraft Embraer of a second generation.

16. On October 24, 2014, Belavia received the certificate of conformity with the EASA demands, which regulate the safety of civil aviation. For several years, the Airlines has maintained one of the highest ratings in Europe.

17. On July 1, 2010, Belavia joined the European Regions Airlines Association (ERAA), which is engaged in the protection and promotion of interests of airlines in Europe. The membership of Belavia in ERAA allows maintaining relationships with other European airlines, promptly discuss the arising issues and solve them by joint efforts.

18. In 2021 an online check-in for flights for passengers appeared on the Belavia website.

19. On June 2, 2014, Belavia Belarusian Airlines signed an agreement with the corporation Boeing on purchasing of three new aircraft Boeing 737-800 from the manufacturer plant.

20. Belavia tankers are equipped with DEADMAN system. While refueling an aircraft, after a certain amount of time, personnel must press a button, thereby conforming their presence and the fact that everything is fine with them. In case, if this does not happen, refueling stops automatically.

21. In 2016, Belavia stopped operating the soviet equipment and completely switched to using western equipment. On October 1, the legendary TU-154 performed its last flight on the Minsk-Gomel route.

22. In April 2017, Belavia entered the top of the most punctual world airlines in the ranking of the research company OAG from Great Britain. It took 8th place. 88,8% of the flights Belavia performed according to schedule.

23. In November 2019, Belavia switched to a new tariff structure, which includes 5 types of tariff brands: Promo, Lite, Smart, Flex, and Business.

24. In February 2016, the first woman pilot was employed by Belavia-Belarusian Airlines. The next year the second woman steering the aircraft was employed by Belavia.

25. The logo of Belavia is a blue cornflower. The circle in the center of the cornflower emphasizes the National Airport where the planes return, while the petals symbolize the movement and directions where passengers can fly.

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