Alyaksandr Lukashenka, welcoming US President’s Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale in Minsk, hinted at the possible launch of direct air connections between Belarus and the United States.
“As if you didn’t have a long journey. Everyone looks energetic. I am very glad that you are in a good mood and look vigorous. That’s because, John, you probably visited friends first instead of coming directly to Belarus. It’s time to fly directly to us,” he said, according to his press service.
“Yes, that would be very good,” Coale replied.
Lukashenka then moved on to the agenda of the talks, proposing also to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
It should be noted that before the COVID-19 pandemic, Belavia had been considering plans for direct flights to the United States. The runway at Minsk airport was reconstructed. However, the plans were derailed by the pandemic, the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk carrying Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega, after which bans were imposed on Belavia flights to the EU, followed by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In addition, the Belarusian airline did not have long-haul aircraft at the time. However, last year Belavia’s fleet was expanded with two Airbus A330 aircraft, enabling the launch of direct flights to China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.
