Aircraft of the Volga-Dnepr group again began to fly through Belarus

The planes of the largest Russian air carrier of cargo - the Volga-Dnepr group of Alexei Isaikin - late on Monday evening, June 28, again began to fly through the airspace of Belarus, follows from the data of the FlightRadar24 service. The press service of the group, which includes the airlines Atran, AirBridgeCargo and Volga-Dnepr, declined to comment. The day before, RBC was informed there that the group decided “temporarily” not to use the airspace of Belarus for flights. RBC sent inquiries to representatives of Belaeronavigatsia, the Russian Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Based on FlightRadar24 data, the aircraft of the two airlines of the group resumed flights through Belarus. If the Boeing 737 Atrana, which departed from Moscow to Nuremberg at about 21:00, was flying around Belarus, then another Boeing 737 of this carrier, two hours later, was already heading from Moscow to Cologne through Belarusian airspace. On Tuesday, June 29, AirBridgeCargo operated a flight from Moscow to Frankfurt also via Belarus. According to FlightRadar24, as of 16:00 Moscow time, four more aircraft of the group flew over Belarus: one Atrana liner and three AirBridgeCargo.

Prior to this, the airlines of the Volga-Dnepr group stopped flights through Belarus for about a week, it follows from the data of the air service. This happened after the European Union, Great Britain and the United States imposed sanctions against Belarusian companies, including the air navigation services provider Belaeronavigatsia, as well as after the UK Civil Aviation Authority banned cooperation with this provider. British aviation authorities sent out a letter warning against cooperation with Belarusian air traffic controllers on 21 June. Volga-Dnepr, whose HEAD office Volga-Dnepr Logistics BV is registered in the Netherlands, follows the instructions of the British aviation authorities, because it strictly complies with all international rules, a source close to the group told RBC on June 28.

Unlike the Volga-Dnepr group, other Russian airlines continued to fly through Belarus despite Western sanctions. “The letter [from the UK Civil Aviation Authority] is still advisory in nature, and their business is mainly controlled by Russian legal entities,” said aviation lawyer Alexei Yeltunov.