Sanctions-hit Belarus looks to Gambia to boost its depleted air fleet

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By Gleb Stolyarov, Filipp Lebedev, Alexander Marrow

LONDON (Reuters) -Sanctions-hit Belarusian flag carrier Belavia is on the cusp of adding three Airbus planes to its depleted fleet after repurposing aircraft that had previously belonged to Gambian airline Magic Air , three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Western sanctions imposed on Belarus and its larger neighbour Russia after Minsk forced a Ryanair plane to land in the Belarusian capital and following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine mean the two staunch allies face a shortage of planes, particularly large passenger aircraft. Belarus and Russia share a borderless union state.

The three wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft, which can typically carry around 250 passengers each, were all registered to Magic Air when they landed in Minsk on August 17, 2024, records by Flightradar24 and two other flight tracking services providers reviewed by Reuters show.

State-owned Belavia is in the process of signing a contract to buy the planes, which arrived in very poor technical conditions, and plans to start flying them this spring-summer season, one of the sources said.

Should Belavia succeed, it could give Russia a blueprint for circumventing sanctions through the use of non-Western nations' planes, according to industry experts.

The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks at sea and against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.     

While Western sanctions on Belarus and Russia have sought to cut access to aircraft parts, many countries, including Gambia, have not signed up to those restrictions and have no obligation to enforce them.

Magic Air, which has no online presence, is a little-known private company that operates in aircraft leasing and airline services, according to a Reuters review of the Gambian justice ministry's companies registry.

The tiny African state is not subject to aviation sanctions, but some Gambia-registered vessels have been targeted by U.S., UK and European Union sanctions for helping Russia evade restrictions on its oil exports through a network of tankers known as the shadow fleet.

Industry publication Aviation Week reported in August 2024 that Magic Air sent three Airbus planes to Belarus from Cairo, Istanbul and Muscat.  

Details of Belavia's plans to take over and operate the planes, which Reuters established through speaking to the three sources, have not been previously reported. 

The sources asked not to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Belavia and the governments of Russia and Belarus did not respond to requests for comment. Calls to a Gambian phone number for Magic Air provided by the justice ministry did not go through.

Gambia's Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) told Reuters the planes were sold to a buyer from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ferried to Minsk and then removed from the Gambian register on August 19, 2024.

"The GCAA received a notification from Magic Air that the aircraft were sold to a UAE company and that they would like to ferry the aircraft to Minsk Airport and de-register them accordingly," GCAA Director General Fansu Bojang told Reuters.

In August 2023, the EU banned Western companies from delivering goods and technologies for use in aviation to Belarus due to the country's continued involvement Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.  

Contacted by Reuters, Airbus said it strictly complies with all relevant laws and sanctions in force against any country and that there is no legal method for aircraft, parts, documentation or services to be exported into an embargoed nation.

It added that no original equipment manufacturer can stop third parties determined to violate sanctions and that there is no method to police the trading of second-hand aircraft or non-genuine parts, documentation and services.

MURKY BUSINESS

Belarusian airlines have been banned from flying over EU territory since 2021, when local authorities forced a Ryanair flight from Athens to Lithuania carrying a dissident Belarusian journalist to land in Minsk escorted by a MiG-29 fighter jet, in what some EU leaders at the time called a hijacking.

Broad-ranging sanctions on Russia following Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine deepened Minsk's problems.

Western planemakers, including Airbus and Belavia's main partner Boeing, have halted supplies of services and spare parts and dropped regular maintenance support for planes both in Russia and Belarus.

Making the Magic Air planes operable in Belarus has been slow progress, as they arrived in poor condition, two of the sources said. One described the interior as "shabby".

In addition, as Belavia only flies Boeing aircraft, its pilots have had to retrain on Airbus systems, they added.  

One of sources said the aircraft would be repainted with Belavia livery and could appear in the fleet as soon as March.

More planes will help Belavia, Belarus' only major airline, cope with rising nationwide demand, said a source in Belarus' aviation industry. Passenger numbers increased 13.5% last year compared to 2023, transport ministry data showed.

Russian airlines, too, are struggling to meet growing air travel demand as sanctions hinder access to parts. Russian industrial conglomerate Rostec has pushed back production of Russia's new MS-21 airliner to 2025-2026 from 2024 and the Sukhoi Superjet 100 to 2026 from 2024.

Russia's transport ministry said in October it was exploring allowing airlines from other countries to operate domestic flights between Russian airports. EU sanctions unveiled in February, target this practice. But Belavia could lend Moscow a hand.

Gambian corporate records list Jordanian national Tareq Ziad Abdel Hamid Al Ajami as owner of a 99% stake in Magic Air. Al Ajami also owns an Albanian holding company, Albanian corporate records show. Reuters was unable to contact Al Ajami. Multiple calls to the Albanian company went unanswered. 

Magic Air used to operate another Airbus, an A320, which also landed in Minsk on August 17, 2024. The plane was transferred five days later to Syrian carrier Cham Wings Airlines and now flies under the tail number YK-BAC, according to Flightradar24 data.   

Cham Wings, which did not respond to a request for comment, is under EU financial sanctions, accused of supporting the government of Syria's ousted leader Bashar al-Assad. 

The U.S. Treasury, the European Commission and Gambia's information ministry did not respond to requests for comment. 

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov in Tbilisi, Filipp Lebedev, Alexander Marrow, Joanna Plucinska and Reade Levinson in London, Robbie Corey-Boulet in Dakar and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Lisa Jucca)