Sanctioned Belavia Acquires A330s Smuggled By Fake Gambian Airline

Sanctioned Belavia Acquires A330s Smuggled By Fake Gambian Airline

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Belarusian national carrier Belavia is expanding its fleet with Airbus A330s, despite sanctions. How did the airline do this? Well, it bought planes from a Jordanian-Syrian businessman, from an airline registered in Gambia, which purchased the planes in a Turkish bankruptcy sale several years ago… as one does.

Belavia expanding fleet with three Airbus A330s

To start, let me explain that Belavia is the national airline of Belarus, and Belarus is Russia’s closest alley. So just as Russia has been subject to sanctions, Belarus has been as well. Currently, Belavia has a fleet of roughly 15 aircraft, consisting primarily of Boeing 737s and Embraer E-jets.

Much like Russian carriers, Belavia has been struggling with its fleet in recent years, given that the airline hasn’t been able to access Airbus and Boeing aircraft or parts. For example, the carrier’s fleet has shrunk by roughly half, as some leasing companies have repossessed their aircraft, in line with sanctions. Belavia has been looking for creative ways to grow its fleet, and it looks like the airline has accomplished exactly that.

Belavia is currently in the process of taking delivery of three Airbus A330-200s. The three frames are an average of 23 years old, and they’ll have the registration codes EW-587PD, EW-588PD, and EW-589PD. The planes all originally flew for Emirates, back in the day.

Two of the planes are expected to start flying later in 2025, while the third is expected to start flying in 2026. The aircraft apparently aren’t in good condition, both in terms of maintenance and passenger experience, so we’ll see how that works out, given the lack of access to parts.

It remains to be seen what exactly Belavia will do with these aircraft. Presumably we’ll only see service to “friendly” countries, like China, Russia, etc. I’m not sure if the airline really needs the range of these A330s, or if it’s just about offering higher capacity aircraft.

Belavia is expanding with three Airbus A330s

Fake Gambian airline Magic Air helped Belavia

The concept of aircraft being smuggled to sanctioned countries is nothing new. Russia, Iran, Syria, etc., have a lot of experience with this. As you’d expect, no reputable leasing company would send planes to a sanctioned country, since it would impact their ability to do business elsewhere.

Unsurprisingly, the story here is quite interesting. Roughly five years ago, a Jordanian businessman of Syrian origin purchased three Airbus A330s from the bankruptcy estate of Onur Air, a Turkish airline that went out of business. He then started Magic Air, an “airline” based in Gambia.

In reality, it wasn’t much of an “airline” at all, and never operated any flights with passengers. There’s very little information about the company online. In August 2024, the Gambian Civil Aviation Authority disclosed that the aircraft were sold to a buyer from the United Arab Emirates, and were taken off the Gambian register.

Despite the claim that the planes were being sold to a buyer from the UAE, in reality the planes were flown to Minsk, Belarus (MSQ), where they’ve been since that time, and have been prepared for entry into service. This wasn’t the guy’s first time assisting airlines with acquiring planes despite sanctions. The same person helped Syria’s Cham Wings acquire aircraft in the past.

Bottom line

Belavia is expanding its fleet with wide body aircraft, as the airline is expected to soon start flying three Airbus A330-200s. These planes were acquired from Gambia’s Magic Air, a suspicious airline based in Gambia, run by a Jordanian businessman. The world of smuggling aircraft to avoid sanctions is hardly new, though the process sure is fascinating.

What do you make of Belavia expanding with A330s?

Conversations (19)
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  1. bossa Guest

    Maybe we'll see these aircraft on 'loan' to Russian carriers, or could they just be parted out given their 'poor' condition ? Although I"m not sure how many A330's are currently operating in Russia or if there's much commonality with other Airbus aircraft (A320, A340) ..
    As if it's worth anything, why not go after freezing that questionable businessman's assets & sanctioning him ? As well as any foreign aid to The Gambia ...

  2. iamhere Guest

    A great and well informed comment. I agree that articles like this are written from a single prospective and does not take into account the wording and intentions of the airline.

  3. Andrew from Yucatan Guest

    Ben,

    The word "smuggled" its not correct.
    Since smuggle means "move goods illegally into or out of a country".
    Belavia did not obtain the aircraft illegally.
    Belavia as an airline sanctioned by other countries does not mean necessarily doing something illegal, it just mean that the countries that choose to sanction applies such measure for geopolitical convenience.

    Belavia has a code share agreement with Nordwind Airlines,
    there´s got expectations on this...

    Ben,

    The word "smuggled" its not correct.
    Since smuggle means "move goods illegally into or out of a country".
    Belavia did not obtain the aircraft illegally.
    Belavia as an airline sanctioned by other countries does not mean necessarily doing something illegal, it just mean that the countries that choose to sanction applies such measure for geopolitical convenience.

    Belavia has a code share agreement with Nordwind Airlines,
    there´s got expectations on this deal with the traffic increase,
    Most likely the flight will operate to the Far East, Thailand, Turkey & Egypt,
    most routes are still under evaluation.

    Since You like to research this subject, You should understand that the tendency and projections of the airlines in this part of the world, the focus its in India and the Far East, Its where its the population, the wealth and the sustainable grow is. Its not Europe.

    Thanks for Your attention.

    1. iamhere Guest

      A great and well informed comment. I agree that articles like this are written from a single prospective and does not take into account the wording and intentions of the airline.

    2. digital_notmad Diamond

      lol found the Belarus sockpuppets

    3. Andy Diamond

      Unfortunately, sanctions are not internationally binding, unless they were endorsed by the UN Security Council, which is not the case for Belarus.

  4. echino Diamond

    Belarus is Russia’s closest "alley"?

  5. Pascal Guest

    Truly Magic . Owner must have laughed as he registred it !

  6. Syd Guest

    As someone who's done a serious investigation into the story (about 0.05 man-hours or ~2 mins) around March, when it was first circulated by Reuters -- me thinks the original plan was for Syria to get all 4 planes (the three A330s in question, plus the A320 Ben mentioned).

    Magic, yeah, clearly a shell, owned three A330s and that one A320 (C5-TAA under Magic, YK-BAC under Cham). On 17-22 Aug of 2024 all 4 got...

    As someone who's done a serious investigation into the story (about 0.05 man-hours or ~2 mins) around March, when it was first circulated by Reuters -- me thinks the original plan was for Syria to get all 4 planes (the three A330s in question, plus the A320 Ben mentioned).

    Magic, yeah, clearly a shell, owned three A330s and that one A320 (C5-TAA under Magic, YK-BAC under Cham). On 17-22 Aug of 2024 all 4 got ferried to Minsk. A320 left several days later and joined Cham, A330s never did. Perhaps a delay occurred, or perhaps the A330s needed work (which theoretically can be done in Minsk, given that Russia can supply A330 parts and expertise). My guess is that the plan to smuggle via Minsk was devised under Assad, but with him gone relatively shortly thereafter, nobody in Syria needed the planes any longer. They sat in Minsk until Belavia figured we may as well pick them up.

    Belavia didn't use long-haul planes pre-covid or pre-invasion, and it certainly doesn't need them now, and definitely not from Airbus. If they did need additional planes, I'm sure they can relatively easily smuggle in some 737-800s or older Embraers (they've operated both types for like 15 years) and get them airworthy within days/weeks, not over a year/close to two years later + train pilots/crew, plus fix an old aircraft they've never seen. They probs just found themselves sitting on free, illiquid A330 and went for it.

    Absolutely no idea how they'll fill up three massive planes given their current route network.

  7. Roy Guest

    Sounds quite similar to how Iranian airlines acquired aircraft. Some Onur Air aircraft later ended up in Iranian fleets.

    https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Onur-Air

    Check out the historical fleet section on PlaneSpotters.net. It's quite colorful.

  8. TravelinWilly Diamond

    But Belarus and Russia are our friends! Ukraine is a terrorist state!

    -RWNJs

    1. D3SWI33 Guest

      Ukraine ! Ukraine ! Jedeee. Give me money. That’s Mr Vice President and no talk to the EU whatever that is Europe within Europe , -TDS

    2. D.. Ball Guest

      Russia and Belarus are murdering, imprisoning and forcing into exile journalists, opposition members and government critics. They are the terrorists not Ukraine. Russia and Belarus do not have a free press. Ukraine does. Russia and Belarus do not have free elections. Ukraine does. Russia invaded Ukraine and is killing women and children nevermind their own young men. What a disgusting comment.

    3. D3SWI33 Guest

      Ukrainian terrorists shot down civilian airliners during Obama. Ukraine is doing plenty of murdering and looting. Both sides are bad. What’s with the hostility boys ?

    4. DT Guest

      Huh? You’re saying that because he wasn’t wearing a suit?

    5. Santos Guest

      @D3SWI33 those were Russian-backed separatists, you nonce. Stop trying to correct people who are smarter and better than you. Stick to YouTube.

  9. AeroB13a Diamond

    One is guessing that we are unlikely to see a flight experience review anytime soon then Ben? …. :-)

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

D.. Ball Guest

Russia and Belarus are murdering, imprisoning and forcing into exile journalists, opposition members and government critics. They are the terrorists not Ukraine. Russia and Belarus do not have a free press. Ukraine does. Russia and Belarus do not have free elections. Ukraine does. Russia invaded Ukraine and is killing women and children nevermind their own young men. What a disgusting comment.

5
Santos Guest

@D3SWI33 those were Russian-backed separatists, you nonce. Stop trying to correct people who are smarter and better than you. Stick to YouTube.

4
TravelinWilly Diamond

Aw...were you triggered?

3
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