MINSK, 19 December (BelTA) - The fleet of Belavia will be expanded next year, the airline’s Director General and delegate to the VII Belarusian People’s Congress Igor Cherginets said on the air of the First News TV Channel, BelTA has learned.
“U.S. sanctions against Belavia have been fully lifted, though European sanctions remain. We are now in negotiations, primarily on expanding the airline’s fleet. Next year it will be increased,” Igor Cherginets said.
He noted that the American side officially published all documents on the lifting of sanctions. “This is a signal for all our partners. We are already meeting with them. We had a good, friendly meeting with the vice president of Boeing. We discussed how we are now resuming and restoring our cooperation. This greatly simplifies aircraft maintenance, the purchase of spare parts, software,” Igor Cherginets said. “And financial issues, I mean making payments in U.S. dollars, also become easier.”
According to the Belavia head, the lifting of sanctions also allows the airline to work more actively in markets: “Yesterday we resumed flights to Almaty. On 8 January we will resume flights to Israel, to Tel Aviv. On 8 January we are opening a new long-haul destination to U-Tapao (Thailand), and on 11 January to Phuket (Thailand). In spring we will start flying to Nha Trang (Vietnam), and in spring-summer to Tunisia and Jordan.”
He also answered the question of whether Belavia will fly to the United States: “We have never had direct or indirect flights to America. There is no intergovernmental agreement on air services between the countries. This is the main issue. Without solving it, flying is impossible. We hope that in the foreseeable future such an agreement will appear, the governments will work it out and sign it, and then we will be able to start some planning,” he said.
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