MINSK, 5 February (BelTA) – Belarusian air and railway transport organizations are ready to enforce all safety requirements set by international partners: face masks, temperature checks, vaccination, Belarusian Transport and Communications Minister Aleksei Avramenko told journalists ahead of the final board meeting of the ministry on 5 February, BelTA has learned.
“The Belarusian aviation industry and railway transport operators are ready to ensure all safety measures proposed by international partners: face masks, temperature checks, vaccination, and so on,” Aleksei Avramenko noted.
According to him, some countries have started to lay down additional restrictions regarding PCR-tests. They also require express test results. For example, to travel to the United Kingdom by plane, travelers will have to present two negative tests, one of which is to be done four hours prior to the departure. “Our task is to ensure the necessary throughput capacity at the airport, or otherwise people will just miss their flights, because they have to do an express test beforehand. All this affects passenger traffic,” the minister explained.
Operation of the transport industry depends on the mobility of the population, Aleksei Avramenko said. He expressed hope that restrictions will be lifted soon, and people will start traveling more once again.
Plans are in place to reopen flights from Minsk to Saint Petersburg as from 12 February and to Rostov-on-Don as from 13 February (Belarus' Belavia and Russia's Aeroflot will operate five flights a week each). “I hope that we will continue moving in this direction, increasing passenger traffic. For example, in 2019, there were 67 weekly flights on the route Minsk-Moscow. Now we have only six (three flights performed by Belavia and three by Aeroflot),” Aleksei Avramenko added. Belarus and Russia have also agreed to resume rail service between Minsk and Moscow from 8 February.
