Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, September 14, 2012 – Belarus-based Belavia has taken delivery the first of two EMBRAER 175 jets in a ceremony held at Embraer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil. The aircraft, which is leased from Air Lease Corporation of Los Angeles, will operate on European routes from Minsk International airport, in Belarus. The second E175 is scheduled for delivery later this year.
“The E175 is ideally suited to support Belavia’s fleet plan. It’s the right sized airplane that will help the airline carefully increase frequency without adding excess capacity,” said Paulo Cesar Silva, Embraer’s President, Commercial Aviation. “Like other E-Jet operators in the region, Belavia has identified the E175 as the ideal aircraft to bring greater efficiency in their fleet by replacing older equipment.”
The E175 is configured with 12 business class and 64 economy class seats enabling the airline to offer a consistent, dual class product standard across all aircraft types in its fleet. The carrier plans to deploy its new E-Jets on routes between Minsk and Moscow-Domodedovo, Saint-Petersburg, Baku, Paris, Yerevan and Milan.
Embraer’s presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is steadily increasing. Belavia is the ninth Embraer E-Jets customer in the region, along with Montenegro Airlines, Air Moldova, Bulgaria Air, Aerosvit, Wind Rose Aviation Air Astana, LOT Polish and Estonian Air and the third operator of the E175 – LOT was the first and Estonian the second. There are more than 340 E170s/E175s flying with airlines around the world.
“We welcome this first E175 as a key aircraft in supporting our company’s strategic development plan which will allow us to better match capacity to demand on our main European routes,” said Anatoly Gusarov, Director General of Belavia. “The aircraft’s seating capacity complements our narrow-body fleet, flying where it would be uneconomical to deploy larger aircraft and offering equivalent passenger comfort.”
Embraer has received more than 1,050 orders for its E-Jet family of aircraft. Nearly 900 E-Jets have been delivered to some 60 airlines in 40 countries. E-Jets are operating with mainline carriers, low cost airlines and are also deployed on regional routes.

Source Embraer