Belavia

Is Belavia safe?

On its own record, yes. The Aviation Safety Network lists no fatal accident for Belavia. The one aircraft it lost, a CRJ100 at Yerevan in 2008, burned with everyone on board surviving. It is still an IATA member, so it holds an IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit, and Belarus is not on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. The score of 68 reflects everything around the airline: five years of sanctions, a fleet that went without US parts from 2022 to 2025, and a network that now leans heavily on Russia. That puts it above Aeroflot (51) and below Azerbaijan Airlines (73).

What happened at Yerevan in 2008?

The CRJ100 had flown in overnight from Minsk. Before the return flight the temperature was minus 3°C with a dew point of minus 4°C, and the crew inspected the wings and found them clean and dry. They started the engines with the engine intake heating on but the wing anti-icing off. During the take-off roll the jet banked steadily to the left until the wingtip hit the runway; it went off the side, the right wing broke off and the spilled fuel caught fire. The aircraft came to rest upside down. All 21 people got out.

The investigation blamed an asymmetric loss of lift, consistent with frost that the crew had not seen, on a type known to be sensitive to wing contamination. It is now 18 years old and the only hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in our 20-year window, which is why the accident record scores 84 and not in the 90s: Belavia is a small airline with about 22 aircraft, so one write-off weighs more.

The Ryanair diversion and what followed

On 23 May 2021 Ryanair flight FR4978 was crossing Belarus from Athens to Vilnius when Minsk air traffic control told its crew of a bomb threat. The aircraft landed in Minsk, where the authorities detained a passenger, the opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, and his companion. ICAO's Council investigated, and on 18 July 2022 it found that the threat was "deliberately false", that it had endangered the flight, and that it had been passed to the crew on the instructions of senior Belarusian government officials. The Council condemned it as an act of unlawful interference.

Belavia did not fly or handle FR4978, so we do not count the event against it in any factor. It shows up in oversight, because the state aviation system Belavia operates under was found to have used air traffic control against another airline's flight.

The consequences for Belavia were direct. The EU closed its airspace and airports to Belarusian airlines in June 2021, and in December 2021 it added Belavia to its sanctions list over flights that had brought migrants towards the Polish border, which also stopped EU lessors from leasing it aircraft. The United States followed with an export denial order in June 2022, after Belavia kept flying US-built jets to Russia. BIS renewed it three times, last in December 2023 for a year.

Can Belavia maintain its Boeings now?

Partly. On 12 September 2025 the US Commerce Department took eight Belavia Boeings off its export-control blacklist: two 737-300s, five 737-800s and one 737-8. Belavia can buy parts and maintenance for them again, but may not fly them to Russia, Iran, Syria, Cuba or North Korea. ch-aviation reported that tracking data showed several of them on Russian rotations soon afterwards. On 4 November 2025 OFAC removed Belavia from its sanctions list altogether. EU sanctions remain, and the airline is still banned from EU airspace.

What we cannot see is how the fleet was maintained between 2022 and 2025, when US-origin parts were off limits. No Western authority has reviewed it. The fleet now mixes three generations of Boeing 737s, Embraer E-jets, CRJ200s and Airbus A330-200s for long flights such as the weekly Minsk–Bangkok route from 25 October 2026. We found no published average age.

Which incidents count?

Three of them happened at Kyiv within 19 months, before flights to Ukraine stopped:

• December 2017, Boryspil. A 737-300 slid off a snow-covered taxiway while leaving the runway, with no damage.
• December 2018, Boryspil. A 737-500 damaged runway lights and its right engine cowl on landing, closing the runway for repairs.
• July 2019, Zhuliany. A 737-300 with 144 people on board overran the runwayRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary at night, broke through the approach lights and stopped 286 metres past the runway end. Ukraine's NBAAI rated it a serious incident.

Since then AeroInside lists engine shutdowns on a 737-800 near Moscow in 2021 and an E195 near Astrakhan in 2024, and a 737-8 that burst a tyre on take-off from Istanbul in 2023. Belarus publishes few investigation reports, so this list is likely incomplete.

Who should think twice

• Travellers who need EU protection. Belavia cannot fly to the EU, and EU passenger rights do not apply. Routes to Western Europe mean a connection through Istanbul, the Gulf or Moscow.
• Anyone flying via Russia. Most of the network goes there. EASA's bulletin, valid until January 2027, warns that drone attacks can close major Russian airports at short notice and that GNSS jamming is common. Leave long connections.

How we scored it

The accident record (84) is the strongest factor: no deaths in the ASN records and one write-offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in 2008. Oversight (64) gives credit for IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary and the absence of an EU safety listing, less ICAO's finding against the Belarusian state. The fleet (54) is mixed and older and went three years without US-approved parts, incidents (58) include a serious overrun, and the environment (48) reflects a network built around Russian airspace. Compare S7 Airlines, which faces the same airspace with an EU safety listing on top.