Belarus’ Orsha Air to be liquidated; Orsha airfield opens up

Belarus's Belavia ends CRJ-200 operations

Belarus's Belavia adds maiden E195-E2

Belavia (B2, Minsk National) has taken delivery of its first of three E195-E2s on order from Embraer (EMB, Sao Jose dos Campos). EW-555PO (msn 19020042) was ferried from Sao Jose dos Campos to Minsk National via Recife and Malaga over the course of December 22/23.

A Belavia statement said its sisterships are expected to arrive in February and April 2021. All three are leased from AerCap and feature nine seats in business class and 116 in economy.

The state-owned carrier plans to deploy the type on flights to London Gatwick, Barcelona El Prat, ​​Nur-Sultan Nazarbayev, Munich, Paris CDG, Adler/Sochi, and Amsterdam Schiphol.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Belavia's mainline fleet entails five E175s, seven E195s, two CRJ200s, four B737-300s, four B737-500s, and nine B737-800s.

US to designate Russia's UAC, China's AVIC as military users

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has unveiled plans to add 103 Russian and Chinese entities to its list of military end-users, therefore subjecting them to export restrictions. The expanded list includes Russia's aircraft manufacturer holding UAC United Aircraft Corporation (Zhukovsky) and parts of China's counterpart AVIC, but not COMAC (Shanghai Pudong).

"This action establishes a new process to designate military end users on the MEU List to assist exporters in screening their customers for military end users. The Department recognizes the importance of leveraging its partnerships with U.S. and global companies to combat efforts by China and Russia to divert U.S. technology for their destabilizing military programs," Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said.

In total, 58 Chinese firms will be added to the list. That number includes, among others:

• seven subsidiaries of state-owned aviation holding AVIC;
• Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (Harbin), the manufacturer of Y12 turboprops;
• Shaanxi Aircraft Company (Hanzhong), the manufacturer of Shaanxi Y-8 transport aircraft;
• Xian Aircraft...

Belarus' Orsha Air adds maiden Yak-40

Orsha Air (ORH) has added a Yak-40 to its fleet following the arrival of EW-464PS (cn 9510540) in Belarus earlier this month. Skyliner Aviation reports the aircraft was seen in service on flights from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, to Minsk National and Kyiv Igor Sikorsky.

Founded in 2013, Orsha Air serves the needs of its parent OAO Orsha Aircraft Repair Plant which is itself a subsidiary of Ukraine's Motor Sich. The airline also operates one Mi-8 MSB and four Mi-2 Mil Helicopters.