Belavia, the flag carrier of Belarus, has taken delivery of its second brand new Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. The aircraft is a lease from major international lessor AerCap. This aircraft is the second of three E195-E2s that will make up the Belavia fleet. The first came to the airline in December 2020.
The latest addition to the Belavia fleet
As Belavia continues to modernize its fleet, this second E195-E2 will perform short-haul journeys throughout the region with improved efficiency compared to the airline's other jets.
The jet, photographed with test registration PR-EBP, will actually have Belarusian registration EW-553PO.
"The E195-E2 is painted in Belavia’s updated blue and white livery that features a cornflower on the tail. The national flower is a symbol of purity and friendliness with its blue petals signifying forward movement. The center of the cornflower represents the nation of Belarus itself, a place to which you always want to return." -Belavia via press release
It should be noted that the second plane, while also blue and white, is painted in a special jubilee livery to honor of the 25th anniversary of the airline.
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The ferry flight from Brazil
The aircraft was most recently tracked landing in Malaga, Spain, on March 11th. This occurred after leaving Embraer's manufacturing facilities in São José dos Campos and making a stop in Natal, located at the outermost Northeast corner of Brazil.
The transatlantic flight between Natal and Malaga took six hours and 40 minutes. From Malaga, the jet should have no problem making the 1,700 nautical mile flight to Belavia's home at Minsk National Airport.
The Belavia E195-E2
In a statement on its website regarding its first E195-E2 delivery, the airline noted that its E195-E2s will be configured to have 125 seats: Nine in business class and 116 in economy class. This represents 18 more seats than the airline’s first-generation E195s.
The E2s will supplement the carrier’s current fleet of seven E195s and five E175s. Belavia says that it began flying Embraer's E-Jets in 2012 as part of a fleet modernization plan. The third and final E195-E2 is expected sometime next month.
Since taking delivery of its very first E2, Belavia has mainly deployed it on flights to Istanbul, Turkey. Interestingly, for an aircraft that has been under Belavia's care since late December, the jet has only flown around 12 round-trip journeys out of Minsk.
Aircraft utilization data from RadarBox.com notes that it only has a monthly average of 2.4 flights and 6.4 flight hours.
As an airline, Belavia serves more than 40 cities in eastern and western Europe, the Middle East, the CIS, and Central Asia from its hub at Minsk.
Where do you think Belavia will be flying its newest addition in the coming weeks? Give us your best guess by leaving a comment.