Belavia (B2, Minsk National) will place an order with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for three B737-800s before June, airline director general, Anatoly Gusarov, has told the Belarusian press. Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Minsk, Gusarov said the new jets will replace the airline's ageing fleet of three Tu-154Ms once they begin arriving in 2017.

“At present we maintain close contacts with the company Boeing. In the near future we are planning to purchase new Boeing 737-800 aircraft directly from the manufacturer. I hope that it will happen by June,” he was quoted by the BelTA news agency.

Among Belavia's immediate plans for the twinjets is to use them on charter flights before deploying them on planned new regional and international flights.

Currently, the Belarusian national carrier operates one B737-800, six B737-500s and seven B737-300s.