Belavia (Belarusian: Белавія; Russian: Белавиа), formally Belavia Belarusian Airlines, is the flag carrier of Belarus, headquartered in Minsk. The state-owned company had, as of 2007, 1,017 employees. Belavia serves a network of routes between Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as some Middle East destinations, from its base at Minsk National Airport.

Following the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident on 23 May 2021, the airline has been banned from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

On 7 November 1933, the first Belarusian air terminal opened in Minsk. In the next spring, 3 Po-2 aircraft landed in Minsk. They became the first aircraft of the Belarusian air fleet. In 1936 the first regular air route between Minsk and Moscow was established. The Belarusian civil aviation group, an Aeroflot subdivision, was officially founded in the summer of 1940. That year, Belarusian aviators transported 2,200 passengers, 1,534 doctors, 117 ill people, and 338 tonnes of cargo.

Belarusian civil aviators participated in World War II as part of the Western Civil Air Fleet Group, which included three regiments, and was under the control of the Red Army, From June 1941 to June 1942, they transported 60,149 military personnel, evacuated 37,680 people, carried 583.1 tonnes of ammunition, and dropped 3,106 bombs. Additionally, they assisted Belarusian partisans by transporting 467.9 tonnes of cargo to them and evacuating 1,433 people between 1941 and 1944. Air connection between Minsk and Moscow was restored in 1944.

After the war, the Belarus expanded its air fleet by adding Lisunov Li-2 aircraft. Routes to Mogilev, Vitebsk, Bobruisk, Gomel, Baranovichi, and Polotsk were introduced. By 1946, the total distance covered by air travel had doubled compared to 1940. Between 1946 and 1950, Belarusian transport aviation carried over 230,000 passengers, 5,227 tonnes of mail, and 7,127 tonnes of cargo. During this period, Belarus also established air connections with Baltic states, Leningrad, Kishinev and Kaliningrad.

The Belarusian air fleet saw significant developments throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The Ilyushin Il-12 was introduced in 1951, soon followed by the Ilyushin Il-14. Since 1954, flight attendants have appeared on flights. From 1955 onwards, the older Po-2 biplanes were gradually replaced by more modern aircraft like the Yakovlev Yak-12 and Antonov An-2..

In the 1960s, the fleet was further expanded. The Antonov An-12 and later the Tupolev Tu-124 began operating on the Moscow-Minsk route. The Antonov An-24 was introduced in 1967. The number of passengers departing from Belarusian airports grew to 530,000 which was a 7.6-fold increase since 1958. The total length of the republic's air routes expanded to 17,500 kilometers. By the end of the decade, Belavia flew 35 routes of Soviet Union importance and 67 republican ones; it also flew to other countries of the Communist Bloc, including East Germany. In 1972, the fleet was expanded with the Yakovlev Yak-40 and later with the Tupolev Tu-134, Belarus became recognized as the primary center of expertise for this aircraft within the Soviet Union. The 1980s saw the introduction of the Tupolev Tu-154.

Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus acquired a substantial fleet of aircraft, comprising 24 Tu-154s, 19 Tu-134s, 18 An-24s, 7 An-26s, and 8 Yak-40s. This fleet was initially part of the Belarusian Civil Aviation Association "Belavia".