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Belarus Buys Old African Planes, Potentially Heading to Russia for Use
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![Vlad Litnarovych]( "Vlad Litnarovych")
Belarus’ state-owned airline Belavia, which has been crippled by Western sanctions, is in the process of acquiring three Airbus A330 aircraft previously registered to Gambian airline Magic Air, three sources told Reuters on March 26.
Industry experts suggest the move could provide Russia with a new loophole for bypassing aviation sanctions.
According to Reuters, In August 2024, aviation industry publication Aviation Week first reported that Magic Air had sent three Airbus planes to Belarus from Cairo, Istanbul, and Muscat.
According to flight tracking data from Flightradar24, the aircraft—all wide-body Airbus A330s, each capable of carrying around 250 passengers—landed in Minsk on August 17, 2024, still registered to Magic Air at the time.
Belavia is now finalizing a contract to purchase the planes and plans to start operating them in the spring-summer travel season, one source said.
Two sources confirmed to Reuters that bringing the planes into operation has been slow, as they arrived in poor technical condition. One described the aircraft’s interior as “shabby.”
Since Belavia’s fleet exclusively consists of Boeing aircraft, its pilots have had to undergo retraining on Airbus systems, further delaying deployment.
One of the sources indicated that at least one aircraft could enter service as early as March after being repainted in Belavia’s livery.
The Gambia Civil Aviation Authority confirmed to Reuters that the aircraft had been sold to a buyer in the UAE, then ferried to Minsk and officially removed from the Gambian aircraft registry on August 19, 2024.
Magic Air, a little-known private Gambian company specializing in aircraft leasing, is registered under the ownership of Jordanian businessman Tareq Ziad Abdel Hamid Al Ajami.
Albanian corporate records show that Al Ajami also owns an Albanian holding company, but Reuters was unable to contact him for comment.
Industry experts believe that if Belavia successfully integrates the planes into its fleet, it could pave the way for Russia to bypass sanctions by using aircraft sourced from non-Western countries.
In October 2024, Russia’s Ministry of Transport floated the idea of allowing foreign airlines to operate domestic flights within Russia, a move explicitly targeted by new EU sanctions in February.
“But Belavia could step in to help Moscow,” Reuters noted.
Western sanctions were imposed on Belarus and Russia following Minsk’s forced landing of a Ryanair plane in 2021 to detain a dissident journalist and Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Since then, both countries have faced severe restrictions on aircraft parts, services, and financing, making it increasingly difficult to maintain or expand their fleets.
Airbus told Reuters it strictly complies with all international sanctions and that no original equipment manufacturer can completely prevent third-party transactions involving second-hand aircraft.
Russian airlines have been struggling with rising passenger demand as sanctions restrict access to spare parts.
In addition, The Russian conglomerate Rostec has pushed back production of Russia’s new MS-21 airliner to 2025-2026 and the Sukhoi Superjet 100 to 2026 due to supply chain disruptions.
According to reports by Lithuanian outlet LRT and Russian investigative platform Verstka, multiple banned aircraft entered Russia in 2024 through Turkey, Oman, the UAE, and Germany, with additional deliveries from Serbia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia.
One such Magic Air Airbus A320, which also arrived in Minsk on August 17, 2024, was transferred five days later to Syrian carrier Cham Wings Airlines—an airline under EU sanctions for aiding the Assad regime.
Earlier, reports emerged that Russia continues to fly passenger planes without proper maintenance or access to necessary electronics, which are unavailable due to sanctions. This has resulted in three mid-air failures of a Russian aircraft within a week.
One of the incidents incident involved a Utair Boeing 737 en route from Saint Petersburg to Samarkand, The Moscow Times reported on January 7.
The crew detected a stabilizer issue mid-flight, prompting a course change and a request for an emergency landing. The aircraft landed safely, according to the airline’s press service. No injuries were reported among passengers or crew, and a reserve aircraft was prepared to complete the journey.
-21d0b63c17f6020e4df75f6c6f9a2f4f.jpg "Ivan Khomenko")
