MINSK, 14 February (BelTA) – The Belarusian air carrier Belavia may start offering in-flight duty free services in 2018, Belavia Director General Anatoly Gusarov told the media on 14 February, BelTA has learned.
Belavia is about to complete the negotiations with the government on the possibility of launching in-flight duty free services, Anatoly Gusarov noted. “I hope that we will have such an opportunity in the nearest time, probably this year,” he underlined.
The director general commented on the impact of Belarus' visa-free program on Belavia. “We have responded to this initiative and developed a special tariff. The passengers can see it in our booking system. Many passengers fly to and from such cities as Warsaw, Prague, and Milan this way. There were a great number of passengers on New Year's Eve and Christmas Eve. In total, over 80,000 people entered the country visa-free in 2017, and our share stands at 60-65%,” Anatoly Gusarov pointed out.
Belavia is set to start flights to Kazan and Rostov ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, Anatoly Gusarov recalled. “These are the World Cup host cities. We get quite a few applications from American and European structures. We thoroughly examine them and come up with the best offers for the football fans,” he said.
In 2017, Belavia offered regular flights from Minsk to 48 airports in 27 countries. The airline also operated regular flights to Kaliningrad in summer 2017 from regional airports (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, and Grodno). All in all, 33,000 flights were made in 2017. The passenger traffic reached 3 million, up 20.6% versus 2016.
The air carrier started flights from Minsk to Brussels and Nizhny Novgorod, from Vitebsk to Kaliningrad, and increased its capacity to Paris, Almaty, and Zhukovsky International Airport. Belavia plans to launch a new service to Rostov-on-Don and Kazan, and continue to increase flight frequency on the existing routes.
Belavia operated charter flights to 87 airports in 37 countries both from Minsk and regional airports. The company organized and made 3,700 charter flights last year, up 9.2% from 2016.
