Republic of Gambia sells VIP Il-62M to Belarus

The Republic of Gambia (Banjul) has sold its only Il-62M, formerly used for government flights, to Belarus’s Rada Airlines (RDA, Minsk-1 Airport), for which it will be the third unit of the type.

EW-564TR (msn 1356234), previously registered in the Gambia as C5-RTG, was ferried on August 8 from Banjul via Djerba to Vitebsk for pre-induction maintenance, Skyliner Aviation has reported. The ch-aviation fleets history module shows the Gambian government had operated the jet since 2005 and retired it in 2018. The aircraft was acquired by the now-deposed strongman kleptocrat Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jammeh who ruled the West African state from 1994 to 2017. In an effort to recover some of the funds Jammeh looted from The Gambia prior to leaving for exile in Equatorial Guinea, the new Barrow regime auctioned off the national VIP fleet which, aside from the Il-62, included a B727-100 and a Bombardier Challenger 601. To date, the B727 and Challenger are believed to be mothballed at Banjul airport.

Ilyushin Design Bureau records, updated on August 4, 2021, indicate EW-564TR was only airworthy until May 2016 and has not undergone proper maintenance since then.

Rada Airlines currently operates two Il-62Ms in cargo configuration. It does not have any other aircraft and is not active in the passenger market. It did not respond to a ch-aviation request for confirmation that it would convert the newly acquired aircraft into a freighter as well.

The Belarusian carrier is one of only two Il-62M commercial operators in the world, the other being Air Koryo (JS, Pyongyang).