The Brazilian government intends to seek a solution that makes the sale of Embraer aircraft to Belarus possible, said the ambassador in the country, Bernard Jorg Leopold de Garcia Klingle, in an interview with the local media.
The representative of Brazil had a meeting with the president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, at the beginning of the month, to discuss various issues, above all the supply of fertilizers for agribusiness.
Garcia Klingle, however, was asked about Embraer planes. Belavia, the country’s flag carrier, currently operates with five E-Jets – one E175 and four E195 -, but recently it had leased three new E195-E2s, which were eventually returned to the lessor.
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The Brazilian ambassador noted that Western countries’ sanctions prevent Embraer aircraft from being sold to Belarus (the country supports Russia in the invasion of Ukraine) and that this scenario should not change soon.
“More than 60% of the parts used by the company in production are produced by other countries, including the United States, some of which are subject to sanctions. Therefore, it is still difficult to talk about what awaits us in the near future”, explained the diplomat.
The ambassador, however, stated that the Brazilian government will make efforts to “seek a solution to this problem”.
Sanctions took away E2 jets
Belavia became an Embraer customer in 2014 when it received its first E-Jets. In February 2020, the airline announced an agreement with AerCap to lease three E195-E2s, the largest variant in the family.
The first jet was delivered in December of the same year, but in 2021, AerCap recovered the three planes and sent them to Kazakhstan.
The reason was the sanctions imposed on the Lukashenko government after a Ryanair Boeing 737 was forced to land in the country so that a journalist critical of the regime could be arrested.
The three E195-E2s currently operate with Belgium’s TUI Fly airline.
