Belavia has withdrawn its last two active Tu-154Ms from scheduled passenger service as of October 1. The type’s last regular flight was Minsk National-Gomel.
The Belarus national carrier said the trijet would be used for charter flights ferrying workers to Belarus’s north. These services will continue until late December following which the aircraft will be retired from service completely.
Belavia has acquired a fleet of B737-800s from Boeing (BOE, Chicago O’Hare) to replace the outgoing Soviet-era jets.
Belavia has operated a total of twenty-two Tu-154s over the years including: one Tu-154B, one Tu-154B1, fifteen Tu-154B2s, and five Tu-154Ms. Of its current fleet of four Tu-154Ms, two – EW-85741 (cn 91A-896) and EW-85748 (cn 92A-924) – are active in civilian service, EW-85815 (cn 95A-1010) is active in the VIP/government charter niche, and EW-85703 (cn 91A-878) is stored.
As such, the only known operators to retain the type in scheduled, commercial service are Air Koryo and Alrosa Aviakompania. (Russian Aviation/Business World Magazine)
