Suspicion of sanctions fraud Mysterious airline sends its aircraft fleet to Minsk
The airline Magic Air from The Gambia has sent its entire fleet of aircraft to Belarus. From there, the Airbus passenger jets will presumably be moved on to Russia.
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- All four aircraft owned by Magic Air flew to Minsk on Saturday.
- They are Airbus passenger aircraft, three A330s and one A320.
- The airline has not yet operated a single passenger flight.
- The suspicion is that Russia is using this route to circumvent sanctions and procure new aircraft.
The young airline Magic Air has purchased four Airbus A330 and A320 passenger aircraft since it was founded. The first jet in October 2023, three more in November 2023, writes the industry portalAerotelegraph. They have not yet been put into operation.
Instead of transferring the aircraft to the Magic Air base in the Gambian capital, the Gambian-registered company simply left them at its locations at Istanbul Ataturk, Cairo and Muscat airports. Until the end of last week.
On Friday, August 16, and Saturday, August 17, all four planes made their way to Belarus within a few hours. All of them landed in Minsk, reports the Russian aviation channel "Aviatorshina".
It is highly likely that the four Airbus jets will later be transferred from Belarus to Russia, speculates Aerotelegraph. The intermediary airline in Gambia is probably a ploy to circumvent Western sanctions, which prohibit the delivery of aircraft and spare parts to Russian airlines.
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko supports Putin. Over the course of his time in office, he and the country have become increasingly dependent on Russia.
