LOT Polish Airlines
Encyclopedia
Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A.
(ˈlɔt, Flight), trading as LOT Polish Airlines, is the flag carrier
of Poland
. Based in Warsaw
, LOT was established in 1929, making it one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation. Using a fleet of 55 aircraft, LOT operates a complex network to 60 destinations in Europe, the Middle East
, North America, and Asia. Most of the destinations are served from its hub, Warsaw Chopin Airport. 1989 marked the beginning of the airline's quick development. LOT started retiring their old Soviet aircraft, and began their fleet renewal. With the arrival of the first Boeing 767-200ER, LOT started inter-continental services to Chicago
, Newark
, Toronto
, and New York City
with the Ilyushin Il-62M aircraft. These four main routes have been one of the most popular flights that LOT operates, especially during the summer season when many Poles
seek to come back to their homeland for vacation. The airline has a large short-haul service, with recently added destinations like Kaliningrad
and Tbilisi
, operating 20 E-Jet 170/175, and a recent order conversion to the E-195, will enable LOT to serve more destinations.
and Aerolot, and started operations on 2 January with services (additional to those previously operated by Aero and Aerolot) to Bydgoszcz and Katowice
. The first aircraft used were Junkers F.13
and Fokker F.VII
. Its first international service began on 2 August 1929 to Vienna
. It was also at this point in time that LOT's well-renowned logo (designed by a visual artist from Warsaw
, Tadeusz Gronowski, and still in use today) was picked as the winning entry of the Airline's logo design competition. Accepted into IATA in 1930, LOT opened an international route to Bucharest
that year, followed by Berlin
, Athens
, Beirut
, Helsinki
, Rome
and some others.
In 1931 the crane
and Gronowski's logo was officially recognised, by the company's corporate leadership, as the emblem of LOT Polish Airlines, and in the same year the company's first multi-segment flight along the route Warsaw - Lwów - Czerniowce – Bucharest was launched. Douglas DC-2
, Lockheed Model 10A Electra
and Model 14H Super Electra
joined the fleet in 1935, 1936 and 1938 respectively (at its peak, LOT had 10 Lockheed 10, 10 Lockheed 14, 3 DC-2 and 1 Ju 52/3mge
). The airline had carried 218,000 passengers by the outbreak of war. In 1934, after five years of operating under the LOT name, the airline received new head offices, technical facilities, hangars, workshops and warehouses located at the new, modern Warsaw Okęcie Airport. This constituted a move from the airline's previous base at Pole Mokotowskie
as this airport had become impossible to operate safely due to the way in which it had gradually become absorbed into Warsaw's outlying urban and residential areas.
In 1938 LOT changed its name, in accordance with the Polish spelling from of that year from Polskie Linje Lotnicze 'LOT' to Polskie Linie Lotnicze 'LOT'; in the same year a test flight, aimed at judging the feasibility of introducing passenger service on the Poland-United States route, was carried out by LOT pilots and crew. Services were suspended during the Second World War, and all of LOT's aircraft
were either destroyed or detained in Romania. From August 1944 until December 1945 the Polish Air Force
maintained basic transport in the country.
, then further 30 Li-2 and 9 Douglas C-47. Both domestic and international services restarted that year, first to Berlin, Paris, Stockholm
and Prague
.
Five Sud-Est Languedoc
joined the fleet in July 1947, followed by five Ilyushin Il-12
B in April 1949, at which point LOT also introduced a new service to Brussels
; 13-20 Ilyushin Il-14
s then followed in 1955-1957. However, after the stalinist
period in Poland, very few Western aircraft were acquired; five Convair 240
in October 1957 and 1959 and three Vickers Viscount
in November 1962, and from that point onwards the composition of the airline's fleet shifted to Soviet
-produced aircraft only. In 1955 LOT inaugurated new services to Moscow
and Vienna
, thus connecting the Polish capital with two major European cities, and with regard to the former, the centre of the Marxist-Leninist world. It was only in 1958 that services to London
and Zürich
were re-established.
The Ilyushin Il-18
(9 aircraft) was introduced in May 1961, leading to the establishment of routes to Africa and Middle East, and by 1963 LOT had expanded its routes to serve the non-European cities of Cairo
, Baghdad
, Beirut
, Benghazi
, Damascus
and Tunis
. The Antonov An-24
was delivered from April 1966 (20 used, on domestic routes), followed by the first jet airliners Tupolev Tu-134
in November 1968 (which coincided with the opening of a new international terminal at Warsaw's Okęcie Airport), and the Ilyushin Il-62
long range jet airliner
in May 1972. The introduction of Il-62 aircraft enabled, for the first time in LOT's history, the establishment of transatlantic services to Montreal
and New York City
. Later, in 1976, LOT began service on its first far-Eastern connection via Dubai
and Bombay to the Thai capital, Bangkok
.
In 1978 the airline's current livery
(despite occasional changes, notably in corporate typography) designed by Roman Duszek and Andrzej Zbrożek, with the large 'LOT' inscription in blue on the front fuselage
, and a blue tailplane was introduced, the 1929-designed Tadeusz Gronowski
logo, however, despite many changes in livery, was kept through the years, and to this day remains the same.
In Autumn, 1981 air transportation collapsed and some Western airlines suspended their connections with Warsaw; then on 13 December of the same year, all LOT Polish Airlines connections were suspended. In 1984 charter flights to New York and Chicago were resumed, then eventually regular flight connections were restored on 28 April 1985. Tupolev Tu-154
mid-range airliners were acquired, after the withdrawal of Il-18 and Tu-134 aircraft from LOT's fleet, in the 1980s and were deployed successively on most European and Middle East routes. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s transatlantic charter flights also reached Detroit and Los Angeles
.
in April 1989, followed by the Boeing 767-300
in March 1990, ATR 72
in August 1991, Boeing 737-500
in December 1992 and finally the Boeing 737-400
in April 1993. From the mid-1980s to early 1990s LOT flew from Warsaw
to Chicago
, Edmonton
, Montreal
, Newark
, New York
and Toronto
. These routes were primarily inaugurated to serve the large Polish communities (Polonia
) present in North America. The acquisition of Boeing 767 series aircraft made LOT the first airline in both Central Europe, and incidentally the entire Eastern Bloc, to operate American equipment. These new aircraft were, at one point, used to operate LOT's longest-ever connection to Singapore
. By the end of 1989 LOT had achieved much, it had hosted that year's IATA congress and achieved a milestone annual load-factor of 2.3 million passengers carried over the course of the year.
In 1990 LOT's third Boeing 767-300 landed at Warsaw Chopin Airport and not long after Boeing 737
and ATR 72
aircraft were acquired for use on LOT's expanded route network, which began to include new international destinations such as Kiev
, Lviv
, Minsk
and Vilnius
. Soon thereafter, in 1993, LOT began to expand its Western-European operations, inaugurating, in quick succession, flights to Oslo
, Frankfurt
and Düsseldorf
, operations at Poland's other regional airports outside Warsaw were also duly expanded around this time.
By December 1992 the airline became a joint stock company, as a transitional step towards partial privatisation, which was effected in late 1999, State Treasury - 67.97% of shares in the company; Regionalny Fundusz Gospodarczy S.A. - 25,1%; the employees - 6.93 %. In 1994 the airline signed a code-sharing agreement with American Airlines
on flights to and from Warsaw as well as onward flights in the United States and Poland operated by both companies; flights to Thessaloniki, Zagreb and Nice were inaugurated, and according to an IATA report, in this year LOT had the youngest fleet of any airline in the world. After years of planning, in 1997 LOT set up a sister airline, EuroLOT, which, essentially operating as its parent airline's regional subsidiary, took over domestic flights. The airline was developed with the hope that it would increase transit passenger-flow through Warsaw's Chopin Airport, whilst at the same time providing capacity on routes with smaller load factors and play a part in developing LOT's reputation as the largest transit airline in Central and Eastern Europe. By 1999 LOT had purchased a number of small Embraer 145 regional jets in order to expand its short-haul fleet, and had, with the approval of the Minister of the State Treasury, begun a process of selling shares to the Swiss company SAirGroup Holding, this then led to the airline's incorporation into the then-nascent Qualiflyer Group.
Expansion of LOT's route network continued in the early 2000s and the potential of the airline's hub at Warsaw Chopin Airport to become a major transit airport was realised with more and more success. In 2000 LOT took delivery of its largest ever order of 11 aircraft and by 2001 had reached a milestone passengers-carried figure of 3 million customers in one year; such an expansion led to the reconstruction of much of LOT's ground infrastructure, and by 2002 a new central Warsaw head office was opened on Ul. 17 Stycznia. On 26 October 2003, LOT, after the collapse of the Qualiflyer Group, became the fourteenth member of the Star Alliance
. By 2006 a new base of operations, with the reconstruction of Warsaw Chopin Airport, had opened, thus allowing LOT's full transit airline potential to be developed for the first time ever. The new airport is much larger than any previous airport in Poland and has since provided LOT passengers with comfortable, high-quality service. In that same year Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome on a LOT flight following his pilgrimage to Poland.
LOT created low-cost arm Centralwings
in 2004, however, the company was dissolved and reincorporated into LOT after just five years of operating due to its long-term unprofitability and LOT's wish to redeploy aircraft within its own fleet.
LOT started new services to Yerevan
, Armenia, Beirut
, Lebanon and resumed Tallinn
, Estonia, Kaliningrad
, Russia, Gothenburg
, Sweden and Bratislava
, Slovakia with its newly-acquired Embraer
aircraft in summer 2010, and in October of the same year LOT resumed service to Asia, with three weekly flights on the Warsaw – Hanoi
route. In addition to this, new services to Tbilisi
, Damascus
and Cairo
were inaugurated. This route expansion has allowed LOT to offer a wider selection of routes to the Middle East, and it is hoped that along with existing routes to Beirut, Yerevan and Tel Aviv, the previously-mentioned routes will help establish LOT's reputation as a gateway carrier to the Near and Middle East.
In 2010 LOT cancelled flights, after 14 years of operation, between Kraków and the US destinations of Chicago and New York, citing profitability concerns and not lack of demand as the reason for the routes' cancellation. The last flight from US-Kraków flight departed on 27 October 2010 from Chicago O'Hare. the aircraft previously used on this route were then re-deployed to serve LOT's new Warsaw-Hanoi route. This route to Hanoi (the Vietnamese capital) is largely under-utilised by European carriers and has proved very successful for LOT. In 2010 LOT also announced its new 'East meets West' route expansion policy, which will see the airline add a number of new Asian destinations to its schedule over the coming years. The policy aims to take advantage of LOT's perspectives as a transit airline and the substantial passenger growth seen on Europe-Asia flights in recent years.
On 31 May 2010, CEO of LOT Sebastian Mikosz stated that the airline will be replacing its fleet to meet a goal of one-third new by 2011. Replacement already started with Embraer
E-Jets 175/170. Mikosz also stated that negotiations with three leasing companies had begun, as LOT wants to replace its twenty-year-old 737s classics and ATRs. Highly possible replacement aircraft for both types of the 737s is the 737NG or mix of A319s and A320s. However, since then LOT has converted some Embraer 175 orders to the larger 195 and this is now considered to also be a possible replacement type for LOT's older aircrafts. For domestic expanded operations, LOT seeks to purchase Dash 8-Q400 or additional ATR 72
-600 aircraft. Boeing 787 Dreamliners are currently planned to arrive in the first quarter of 2012.
On 5 February 2011, new CEO of LOT Marcin Piróg announced that the airline is considering, in the near future, to open service to Baku, Sochi, Stuttgart, Oslo, Gothenburg, Dubai, Kuwait and Ostrava from its Warsaw hub. Previously planned flights to Donetsk in Ukraine have already been inaugurated. LOT currently has plans to open routes to Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai as soon as its first 787s arrive in 2012. This has now become feasible since the initialling of an agreement on Siberian overflight permits for LOT by the Polish and Russian governments in November 2011. As a result of the new agreement, LOT will receive new take-off and landing slots at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport
and will begin service on a re-instated, improved Beijing service once Aeroflot begins service to Kraków
on 1 June 2012. A previously planned flight to Tokyo
will not, according to current plans held by Polish civil aviation officials, be inaugurated by LOT in 2012, however this could change at short notice as the Siberian overflight agreement also provides LOT with permission for routes to Japan.
Other possible destinations for the near term include Bangkok, Singapore, Delhi and Washington DC, however these are all dependent on the delivery of Boeing 787 aircraft.
As of 2011 LOT is reportedly pursuing its new 'East meets West' strategy and will be accelerating the speed of its restructuring process. Also, in line with this policy LOT will be introducing, for the first time, a premium economy class once it takes delivery of its Boeing 787 aircraft. Additionally lie-flat seats will be available in business class and all of the airline's new long-haul aircraft will be fitted with Thales
personal entertainment systems. LOT's head office has also confirmed its commitment to continue with the airline's current privatisation plans.
LOT has decided to privatise in 2011.
and LOT Charters
) consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 8.8 years(12.8 including EuroLOT
and LOT Charters
) :
However, with the delivery of new Boeing 787
long-haul aircraft in 2011/12, LOT has taken the decision to replace its current livery with a fresh new design. This design is intended to retain the tradition and spirit of LOT and there will be no major or radical changes to the livery applied to the airline's planes. The most obvious will be the elimination of the blue nose piece and broad cheat-line which runs down each plane's fuselage and the removal of the 'POLSKIE LINIE LOTNICZE' title from each aircraft's starboard side; these will instead be replaced with the words 'POLISH AIRLINES', analogous to the port-side titles in the airline's current livery composition. The tailplane's design will change only slightly, with the colours of the traditional encircled crane logo being inverted and the circle becoming a more simple outline ring. Additionally, the positioning will be such as the circle (with crane) will not entirely fit on the tail. Finally, the colours of the Polish flag, present at the top of the circle in the current LOT livery, will be moved to the bottom of the tailplane and will not connect with the logo. It is hoped that the design, along with the entry into service of the new high-spec 787s, will help refresh LOT's image in the public eye.
s, three are named in honour of Polish cities. In addition to this, two further aircraft previously operated by LOT were named; however there are also two long-range aircraft which have notably never bourn the name of any Polish city, this testifies to the fact that the airline seems to be rather inconsistent in its application of this policy. Currently it is unclear as to whether this practice will continue upon arrival of LOT's Boeing 787
s and the introduction of the airline's new, updated, euro-white livery.
, Adria Airways
, Croatia Airlines
, Lufthansa
, Luxair
, Swiss International Air Lines
, and Brussels Airlines
. Miles & More members may earn miles on LOT flights and Star Alliance partner flights, as well as through LOT credit cards, and purchases made through the LOT Polish Airlines shops. Status within Miles & More is determined by miles flown during one calendar year with specific partners. Membership levels include: Basic (no minimal threshold), Frequent Traveller (Silver, 35,000 mile threshold), Senator (Gold, 100,000 mile threshold), and HON Circle (Black, 600,000 mile threshold over two calendar years). All non-basic Miles & More status levels offer lounge access and executive bonus miles, with the higher levels offering more exclusive benefits.
member airline, and those who are members of a Star Alliance 'Gold' loyalty program (such as Miles & More Senator status) or the Polish State Airports authority's 'Good Start' program. The Polonez lounge recently, in 2010, underwent a major refit and is now able to offer high-quality standards of service to all passengers who wish to make use of it. Some examples of services offered to passengers include business conferencing facilities, internet access, work space, local, national and foreign-language media (newspapers and television) and, a new development, individual access to an Apple iPad.
The Polonez lounge's opening hours are currently coordinated with those of LOT's flight schedule, however, it has been stated that these times are open to review at any time and could well be changed in the future. The lounge is located in Chopin Airport's Terminal A, one floor above the departures lounge (in the Schengen zone after security check), and is accesible by stairs and lift.
, when Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain
, several LOT planes were hijacked and forced to land in a Western country, predominantly in Germany
and especially in West Berlin
, because of it being situated like an island in the Eastern Bloc
. The hijackers were usually not prosecuted there, but could claim for political asylum, along with all other passengers who wished to do so.
S.A. (corporation)
S.A. designates a particular type of corporation in various countries, mostly those employing the civil law. It originated in Spain during the 16th century. Depending on language, the abbreviation stands for various phrases meaning anonymous society, anonymous company, anonymous partnership, or...
(ˈlɔt, Flight), trading as LOT Polish Airlines, is the flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Based in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, LOT was established in 1929, making it one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation. Using a fleet of 55 aircraft, LOT operates a complex network to 60 destinations in Europe, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, North America, and Asia. Most of the destinations are served from its hub, Warsaw Chopin Airport. 1989 marked the beginning of the airline's quick development. LOT started retiring their old Soviet aircraft, and began their fleet renewal. With the arrival of the first Boeing 767-200ER, LOT started inter-continental services to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with the Ilyushin Il-62M aircraft. These four main routes have been one of the most popular flights that LOT operates, especially during the summer season when many Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
seek to come back to their homeland for vacation. The airline has a large short-haul service, with recently added destinations like Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
and Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, operating 20 E-Jet 170/175, and a recent order conversion to the E-195, will enable LOT to serve more destinations.
Pre-war LOT of the second republic
The airline was established on 1 January 1929 by the Polish government as a state-owned self-governing corporation taking over existing domestic lines AeroAero (Polish airline)
The Society of Air Transportation Aero SA was a Polish airline founded in Poznań in February 1925 by the members of the Association of Polish Pilots and based entirely on the Polish seed capital. It operated until 1928 and on 1 January 1929 it was incorporated into the newly founded Polish flag...
and Aerolot, and started operations on 2 January with services (additional to those previously operated by Aero and Aerolot) to Bydgoszcz and Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
. The first aircraft used were Junkers F.13
Junkers F.13
The Junkers F.13 was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft, developed in Germany at the end of World War I. It was an advanced cantilever-wing monoplane, with enclosed accommodation for four passengers. Over 300 were sold...
and Fokker F.VII
Fokker F.VII
The Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence....
. Its first international service began on 2 August 1929 to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. It was also at this point in time that LOT's well-renowned logo (designed by a visual artist from Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Tadeusz Gronowski, and still in use today) was picked as the winning entry of the Airline's logo design competition. Accepted into IATA in 1930, LOT opened an international route to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
that year, followed by Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and some others.
In 1931 the crane
Crane (bird)
Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
and Gronowski's logo was officially recognised, by the company's corporate leadership, as the emblem of LOT Polish Airlines, and in the same year the company's first multi-segment flight along the route Warsaw - Lwów - Czerniowce – Bucharest was launched. Douglas DC-2
Douglas DC-2
The Douglas DC-2 was a 14-seat, twin-engine airliner produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Corporation starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247...
, Lockheed Model 10A Electra
Lockheed Model 10 Electra
The Lockheed Model 10 Electra was a twin-engine, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2...
and Model 14H Super Electra
Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, René J. Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987. ISBN 0-85177-835-6.-External links:*...
joined the fleet in 1935, 1936 and 1938 respectively (at its peak, LOT had 10 Lockheed 10, 10 Lockheed 14, 3 DC-2 and 1 Ju 52/3mge
Junkers Ju 52
The Junkers Ju 52 was a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Deutsche Luft Hansa as an airliner and freight hauler...
). The airline had carried 218,000 passengers by the outbreak of war. In 1934, after five years of operating under the LOT name, the airline received new head offices, technical facilities, hangars, workshops and warehouses located at the new, modern Warsaw Okęcie Airport. This constituted a move from the airline's previous base at Pole Mokotowskie
Pole Mokotowskie
Pole Mokotowskie is a large park in Warsaw. Part of it is called "Józef Piłsudski Park."...
as this airport had become impossible to operate safely due to the way in which it had gradually become absorbed into Warsaw's outlying urban and residential areas.
In 1938 LOT changed its name, in accordance with the Polish spelling from of that year from Polskie Linje Lotnicze 'LOT' to Polskie Linie Lotnicze 'LOT'; in the same year a test flight, aimed at judging the feasibility of introducing passenger service on the Poland-United States route, was carried out by LOT pilots and crew. Services were suspended during the Second World War, and all of LOT's aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
were either destroyed or detained in Romania. From August 1944 until December 1945 the Polish Air Force
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej...
maintained basic transport in the country.
LOT during the people's republic
On 10 March 1945 the Polish government recreated the LOT airline. In 1946, seven years after the service was suspended, the airline restarted its operations after receiving 10 Lisunov Li-2Lisunov Li-2
The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by the GAZ-84 works at Moscow-Khimki, and subsequently at GAZ-33 at Tashkent-Vostochn. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.-Design and...
, then further 30 Li-2 and 9 Douglas C-47. Both domestic and international services restarted that year, first to Berlin, Paris, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
Five Sud-Est Languedoc
Sud-Est Languedoc
-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Chillon J., J-P Dubois and J.Wegg. French Postwar Transport Aircraft. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain Limited. 1980. ISBN 978-0-85130-078-8.* Munson, Kenneth...
joined the fleet in July 1947, followed by five Ilyushin Il-12
Ilyushin Il-12
The Ilyushin Il-12 was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.-Design and development:...
B in April 1949, at which point LOT also introduced a new service to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
; 13-20 Ilyushin Il-14
Ilyushin Il-14
The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese...
s then followed in 1955-1957. However, after the stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
period in Poland, very few Western aircraft were acquired; five Convair 240
Convair 240
The Convair CV-240 was an American airliner produced by Convair from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement of the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. While featuring a more modern design, the 240 series was able to make some inroads as a commercial airliner and also had a long development cycle...
in October 1957 and 1959 and three Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
in November 1962, and from that point onwards the composition of the airline's fleet shifted to Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
-produced aircraft only. In 1955 LOT inaugurated new services to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, thus connecting the Polish capital with two major European cities, and with regard to the former, the centre of the Marxist-Leninist world. It was only in 1958 that services to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
were re-established.
The Ilyushin Il-18
Ilyushin Il-18
The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades...
(9 aircraft) was introduced in May 1961, leading to the establishment of routes to Africa and Middle East, and by 1963 LOT had expanded its routes to serve the non-European cities of Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Benghazi
Benghazi
Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...
, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
. The Antonov An-24
Antonov An-24
The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:...
was delivered from April 1966 (20 used, on domestic routes), followed by the first jet airliners Tupolev Tu-134
Tupolev Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
in November 1968 (which coincided with the opening of a new international terminal at Warsaw's Okęcie Airport), and the Ilyushin Il-62
Ilyushin Il-62
The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...
long range jet airliner
Jet airliner
A jet airliner is an airliner that is powered by jet engines. This term is sometimes contracted to jetliner or jet.In contrast to today's relatively fuel-efficient, turbofan-powered air travel, first generation jet airliner travel was noisy and fuel inefficient...
in May 1972. The introduction of Il-62 aircraft enabled, for the first time in LOT's history, the establishment of transatlantic services to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Later, in 1976, LOT began service on its first far-Eastern connection via Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
and Bombay to the Thai capital, Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
.
In 1978 the airline's current livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
(despite occasional changes, notably in corporate typography) designed by Roman Duszek and Andrzej Zbrożek, with the large 'LOT' inscription in blue on the front fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
, and a blue tailplane was introduced, the 1929-designed Tadeusz Gronowski
Tadeusz Gronowski
Tadeusz Lucjan Gronowski was a Polish graphic artist, architect who worked as an interior designer, painter, and a book illustrator.He is considered to be one of the creators of the Polish modern poster...
logo, however, despite many changes in livery, was kept through the years, and to this day remains the same.
In Autumn, 1981 air transportation collapsed and some Western airlines suspended their connections with Warsaw; then on 13 December of the same year, all LOT Polish Airlines connections were suspended. In 1984 charter flights to New York and Chicago were resumed, then eventually regular flight connections were restored on 28 April 1985. Tupolev Tu-154
Tupolev Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range narrow-body airliner designed in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. As the mainstay 'workhorse' of Soviet and Russian airlines for several decades, it serviced over a sixth of the world's landmass and carried half of all passengers flown...
mid-range airliners were acquired, after the withdrawal of Il-18 and Tu-134 aircraft from LOT's fleet, in the 1980s and were deployed successively on most European and Middle East routes. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s transatlantic charter flights also reached Detroit and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Post-1989 LOT Polish Airlines
After the fall of the communist system in Poland in 1989 the fleet shifted back to Western aircraft, beginning with acquisitions of the Boeing 767-200Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
in April 1989, followed by the Boeing 767-300
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
in March 1990, ATR 72
ATR 72
The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop short-haul regional airliner built by the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. ATR and Airbus are both built in Toulouse, and share resources and technology...
in August 1991, Boeing 737-500
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
in December 1992 and finally the Boeing 737-400
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
in April 1993. From the mid-1980s to early 1990s LOT flew from Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. These routes were primarily inaugurated to serve the large Polish communities (Polonia
Polonia
The Polish diaspora refers to people of Polish origin who live outside Poland. The Polish diaspora is also known in modern Polish language as Polonia, which is the name for Poland in Latin and in many other Romance languages....
) present in North America. The acquisition of Boeing 767 series aircraft made LOT the first airline in both Central Europe, and incidentally the entire Eastern Bloc, to operate American equipment. These new aircraft were, at one point, used to operate LOT's longest-ever connection to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. By the end of 1989 LOT had achieved much, it had hosted that year's IATA congress and achieved a milestone annual load-factor of 2.3 million passengers carried over the course of the year.
In 1990 LOT's third Boeing 767-300 landed at Warsaw Chopin Airport and not long after Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
and ATR 72
ATR 72
The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop short-haul regional airliner built by the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. ATR and Airbus are both built in Toulouse, and share resources and technology...
aircraft were acquired for use on LOT's expanded route network, which began to include new international destinations such as Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
and Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
. Soon thereafter, in 1993, LOT began to expand its Western-European operations, inaugurating, in quick succession, flights to Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, operations at Poland's other regional airports outside Warsaw were also duly expanded around this time.
By December 1992 the airline became a joint stock company, as a transitional step towards partial privatisation, which was effected in late 1999, State Treasury - 67.97% of shares in the company; Regionalny Fundusz Gospodarczy S.A. - 25,1%; the employees - 6.93 %. In 1994 the airline signed a code-sharing agreement with American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
on flights to and from Warsaw as well as onward flights in the United States and Poland operated by both companies; flights to Thessaloniki, Zagreb and Nice were inaugurated, and according to an IATA report, in this year LOT had the youngest fleet of any airline in the world. After years of planning, in 1997 LOT set up a sister airline, EuroLOT, which, essentially operating as its parent airline's regional subsidiary, took over domestic flights. The airline was developed with the hope that it would increase transit passenger-flow through Warsaw's Chopin Airport, whilst at the same time providing capacity on routes with smaller load factors and play a part in developing LOT's reputation as the largest transit airline in Central and Eastern Europe. By 1999 LOT had purchased a number of small Embraer 145 regional jets in order to expand its short-haul fleet, and had, with the approval of the Minister of the State Treasury, begun a process of selling shares to the Swiss company SAirGroup Holding, this then led to the airline's incorporation into the then-nascent Qualiflyer Group.
Expansion of LOT's route network continued in the early 2000s and the potential of the airline's hub at Warsaw Chopin Airport to become a major transit airport was realised with more and more success. In 2000 LOT took delivery of its largest ever order of 11 aircraft and by 2001 had reached a milestone passengers-carried figure of 3 million customers in one year; such an expansion led to the reconstruction of much of LOT's ground infrastructure, and by 2002 a new central Warsaw head office was opened on Ul. 17 Stycznia. On 26 October 2003, LOT, after the collapse of the Qualiflyer Group, became the fourteenth member of the Star Alliance
Star Alliance
Star Alliance is the world's first and largest airline alliance, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany . The alliance was founded in 1997 by five of the world's leading airlines: Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International and United Airlines...
. By 2006 a new base of operations, with the reconstruction of Warsaw Chopin Airport, had opened, thus allowing LOT's full transit airline potential to be developed for the first time ever. The new airport is much larger than any previous airport in Poland and has since provided LOT passengers with comfortable, high-quality service. In that same year Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome on a LOT flight following his pilgrimage to Poland.
LOT created low-cost arm Centralwings
Centralwings
Centralwings was a charter airline based in Warsaw, Poland. The airline operated as a low-cost airline and then became a charter-only operation in October 2008. It was a subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, operating international services in Europe, using Boeing 737 aircraft...
in 2004, however, the company was dissolved and reincorporated into LOT after just five years of operating due to its long-term unprofitability and LOT's wish to redeploy aircraft within its own fleet.
Recent Developments
In 2008 LOT opened a new flight to Beijing, however this lasted just a month, in the period prior to the Olympics. The reason for failure to continue this service was given as the need to route aircraft via an air corridor to the south of Kazakhstan (as LOT did not have permission for flights over SIberia from the Russian government) which was making the services too long and thus unprofitable.LOT started new services to Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, Armenia, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Lebanon and resumed Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, Estonia, Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia, Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden and Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, Slovakia with its newly-acquired Embraer
Embraer
Embraer S.A. is a Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, and executive aircraft and provides aeronautical services....
aircraft in summer 2010, and in October of the same year LOT resumed service to Asia, with three weekly flights on the Warsaw – Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
route. In addition to this, new services to Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
and Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
were inaugurated. This route expansion has allowed LOT to offer a wider selection of routes to the Middle East, and it is hoped that along with existing routes to Beirut, Yerevan and Tel Aviv, the previously-mentioned routes will help establish LOT's reputation as a gateway carrier to the Near and Middle East.
In 2010 LOT cancelled flights, after 14 years of operation, between Kraków and the US destinations of Chicago and New York, citing profitability concerns and not lack of demand as the reason for the routes' cancellation. The last flight from US-Kraków flight departed on 27 October 2010 from Chicago O'Hare. the aircraft previously used on this route were then re-deployed to serve LOT's new Warsaw-Hanoi route. This route to Hanoi (the Vietnamese capital) is largely under-utilised by European carriers and has proved very successful for LOT. In 2010 LOT also announced its new 'East meets West' route expansion policy, which will see the airline add a number of new Asian destinations to its schedule over the coming years. The policy aims to take advantage of LOT's perspectives as a transit airline and the substantial passenger growth seen on Europe-Asia flights in recent years.
On 31 May 2010, CEO of LOT Sebastian Mikosz stated that the airline will be replacing its fleet to meet a goal of one-third new by 2011. Replacement already started with Embraer
Embraer
Embraer S.A. is a Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, and executive aircraft and provides aeronautical services....
E-Jets 175/170. Mikosz also stated that negotiations with three leasing companies had begun, as LOT wants to replace its twenty-year-old 737s classics and ATRs. Highly possible replacement aircraft for both types of the 737s is the 737NG or mix of A319s and A320s. However, since then LOT has converted some Embraer 175 orders to the larger 195 and this is now considered to also be a possible replacement type for LOT's older aircrafts. For domestic expanded operations, LOT seeks to purchase Dash 8-Q400 or additional ATR 72
ATR 72
The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop short-haul regional airliner built by the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. ATR and Airbus are both built in Toulouse, and share resources and technology...
-600 aircraft. Boeing 787 Dreamliners are currently planned to arrive in the first quarter of 2012.
On 5 February 2011, new CEO of LOT Marcin Piróg announced that the airline is considering, in the near future, to open service to Baku, Sochi, Stuttgart, Oslo, Gothenburg, Dubai, Kuwait and Ostrava from its Warsaw hub. Previously planned flights to Donetsk in Ukraine have already been inaugurated. LOT currently has plans to open routes to Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai as soon as its first 787s arrive in 2012. This has now become feasible since the initialling of an agreement on Siberian overflight permits for LOT by the Polish and Russian governments in November 2011. As a result of the new agreement, LOT will receive new take-off and landing slots at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport , is an international airport located in the Moscow Oblast, Russia, north-west of central Moscow. It is a hub for the passenger operations of the Russian international airline Aeroflot, and one of the three major airports serving Moscow along with Domodedovo...
and will begin service on a re-instated, improved Beijing service once Aeroflot begins service to Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
on 1 June 2012. A previously planned flight to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
will not, according to current plans held by Polish civil aviation officials, be inaugurated by LOT in 2012, however this could change at short notice as the Siberian overflight agreement also provides LOT with permission for routes to Japan.
Other possible destinations for the near term include Bangkok, Singapore, Delhi and Washington DC, however these are all dependent on the delivery of Boeing 787 aircraft.
As of 2011 LOT is reportedly pursuing its new 'East meets West' strategy and will be accelerating the speed of its restructuring process. Also, in line with this policy LOT will be introducing, for the first time, a premium economy class once it takes delivery of its Boeing 787 aircraft. Additionally lie-flat seats will be available in business class and all of the airline's new long-haul aircraft will be fitted with Thales
Thales
Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition...
personal entertainment systems. LOT's head office has also confirmed its commitment to continue with the airline's current privatisation plans.
Corporate affairs
Privatisation
Currently, the Polish government owns 68% of shares in LOT; Regionalny Fundusz Gospodarczy S.A. owns 25%; employees own 6.93%.LOT has decided to privatise in 2011.
Subsidiaries
- EuroLOTEurolotEuroLOT is an airline based in Warsaw, Poland. Established as a wholly owned subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, its current main shareholder is the State Treasury with 62.1% of shares, while LOT retains 37.9%. It operates for its parent company as a short-haul operator, as well as ad-hoc charter...
, a wholly owned subsidiary airline, founded on 1 July 1997. - LOT ChartersLOT ChartersLOT Charters is a subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, operating charter flights on behalf of tour operators under a separate airline licence.-Operations:LOT Charters launched flight operations on 1 June 2009...
, a charter subsidiary set up in 2009. - CentralwingsCentralwingsCentralwings was a charter airline based in Warsaw, Poland. The airline operated as a low-cost airline and then became a charter-only operation in October 2008. It was a subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, operating international services in Europe, using Boeing 737 aircraft...
, a low-cost subsidiary that was operational between 2004 and 2009.
Awards
The high quality of services and professionalism of LOT crews have been honoured a number of times. In 1996 "Business Travel World" recognised LOT as the best airline in Central and Eastern Europe in Business Class. LOT received the same award in consecutive years: 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 1998 LOT for the first time became a laureate of the “Business Traveller” award for the Best Eastern European Airline. From that year it has been receiving the same award every single year. In 2007 the biggest air travel website in Poland - Pasażer.com awarded LOT with the title of “Best Network Airline in the year 2006”. LOT’s offer for business travellers has also been awarded as well as LOT won the title "Best Airline in Central and Eastern Europe" by OAG in 2001, 2002 and 2009.Destinations
Codeshare agreements
LOT Polish Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines (as of April 2011), * indicates as Star Alliance:
|
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Scandinavian Airlines System Scandinavian Airlines or SAS, previously Scandinavian Airlines System, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the largest airline in Scandinavia.... * Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines Limited is the flag carrier airline of Singapore. Singapore Airlines operates a hub at Changi Airport and has a strong presence in the Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and "Kangaroo Route" markets... * South African Airways South African Airways is the national flag carrier and largest airline of South Africa, with headquarters in Airways Park on the grounds of OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. The airline flies to 36 destinations worldwide from its hub at OR Tambo International... * Spanair Spanair is a Spanish airline, with its head office in the Spanair Building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona. It was, until 2009, a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines, which now holds slightly under 20% of the company. Spanair provides a scheduled passenger network within Spain and... * Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines AG is the principal airline of Switzerland operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Its main hub is Zurich Airport... * TAP Portugal TAP Portugal, commonly known as TAP, is the national airline of Portugal. It has its head office in Building 25 on the grounds of Portela Airport in Lisbon, and has been a member of the Star Alliance since 14 March 2005, the same day on which the company celebrated its 60th anniversary... * TAROM S.C. Compania Națională de Transporturi Aeriene Române TAROM S.A., doing business as TAROM Romanian Air Transport, is the flag carrier and oldest currently operating airline of Romania. The brand name is an acronym for... (SkyTeam SkyTeam SkyTeam, branded as SKYTEAM, is an airline alliance with its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands... ) Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, headquartered in the Turkish Airlines General Management Building on the grounds of Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy, Bakirköy district, Istanbul... * United Airlines United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental... * |
Fleet
Current
As of August 2011, the LOT Polish Airlines fleet (including EuroLOTEurolot
EuroLOT is an airline based in Warsaw, Poland. Established as a wholly owned subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, its current main shareholder is the State Treasury with 62.1% of shares, while LOT retains 37.9%. It operates for its parent company as a short-haul operator, as well as ad-hoc charter...
and LOT Charters
LOT Charters
LOT Charters is a subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, operating charter flights on behalf of tour operators under a separate airline licence.-Operations:LOT Charters launched flight operations on 1 June 2009...
) consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 8.8 years(12.8 including EuroLOT
Eurolot
EuroLOT is an airline based in Warsaw, Poland. Established as a wholly owned subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, its current main shareholder is the State Treasury with 62.1% of shares, while LOT retains 37.9%. It operates for its parent company as a short-haul operator, as well as ad-hoc charter...
and LOT Charters
LOT Charters
LOT Charters is a subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, operating charter flights on behalf of tour operators under a separate airline licence.-Operations:LOT Charters launched flight operations on 1 June 2009...
) :
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Options | Passengers | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Y | Y+ | Total | |||||
| Boeing 737-400 Boeing 737 Classic The Boeing 737 Classic is the name given to the -300/-400/-500 series of the Boeing 737 following the introduction of the -600/-700/-800/-900 series. They are short- to medium- range, narrow-body jet airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The Classic series was introduced as the 'new... |
48 | 99 | 147 | Operated on behalf of LOT Charters | ||||
| Boeing 737-500 Boeing 737 Classic The Boeing 737 Classic is the name given to the -300/-400/-500 series of the Boeing 737 following the introduction of the -600/-700/-800/-900 series. They are short- to medium- range, narrow-body jet airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The Classic series was introduced as the 'new... |
36 | 72 | 108 | To be phased out | ||||
| Boeing 767-300ER Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail... |
18 | 225 | 243 | SP-LPE painted in Star Alliance livery. One currently leased from aerosvit. | ||||
| Boeing 787-8 | 18 | 21 | 213 | 252 | European launch customer; Thales TopSeries IFE to be installed. New livery to be introduced. | |||
| Embraer E-170 | 70 | 70 | Launch customer; SP-LDK painted in Star Alliance livery | |||||
| Embraer E-175 | 82 | 82 | SP-LII in special '600th E-Jet' livery | |||||
| Embraer E-195 | 112 | 112 | SP-LNB in special livery | |||||
| color:white;"> EuroLOT Fleet | ||||||||
| ATR 72-202 | 64 | 64 | ||||||
| ATR 42-500 | 44-48 | 44-48 | ||||||
| Embraer E-175 | 82 | 82 | Two operating for Polish Government | |||||
| Total | 56 | 9 | 16 |
Orders
- On 7 September 2005 the airline ordered seven (with two options and five purchase rights) Boeing 787-8s for its long haul operations, which were initially planned for delivery in 2008. On 19 February 2007 the airline converted one option to make a total of eight Boeing 787-8s on order. On March 7, 2011 Boeing officially notified LOT Polish Airlines, that the delivery of the Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner will be delayed for another year. The first aircraft is due to be delivered in April, 2012. Another four are expected to arrive between August and November the same year.
- On 4 May 2010, LOT converted 4 Embraer 175 orders, to 4 Embraer 195 orders. The delivery of these aircraft began in March 2011.
- On 8 June 2010 the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland leased 2 E-175 aircraft from LOT to be used to transport the highest officials of Poland, after the Polish Tu-154M crashed near Smolensk (2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crashThe 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board...
) on 10 April 2010 killing the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and many other high ranking officials. The lease is to end in 2013, while there is a option for the Government to shorten the lease or extended it. One of the aircraft already had its maiden flight under the colors of the Polish Government, carrying the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk to Brussels from Warsaw.
Previously operated
- Antonov An-12Antonov An-12The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.-Design and development:...
- Antonov An-24Antonov An-24The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:...
- Antonov An-26Antonov An-26The Antonov An-26 is a twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the USSR from 12 March 1968.-Development:...
, 3 leased from
the Polish Air Force for LOT Cargo - Antonov An-32Antonov An-32The Antonov An-32 is a twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft.-Design and development:The An-32 is basically a re-engined An-26. The launch customer was the Indian Air Force, which ordered this aircraft partly due to good relations between then USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev and then...
- Boeing 737-300Boeing 737 ClassicThe Boeing 737 Classic is the name given to the -300/-400/-500 series of the Boeing 737 following the introduction of the -600/-700/-800/-900 series. They are short- to medium- range, narrow-body jet airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The Classic series was introduced as the 'new...
- Boeing 767-200ERBoeing 767The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
- C-47 SkytrainC-47 SkytrainThe Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
- Convair 240Convair 240The Convair CV-240 was an American airliner produced by Convair from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement of the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. While featuring a more modern design, the 240 series was able to make some inroads as a commercial airliner and also had a long development cycle...
- Douglas DC-2Douglas DC-2The Douglas DC-2 was a 14-seat, twin-engine airliner produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Corporation starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247...
- Douglas DC-8Douglas DC-8The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
, one DC-8-62CF leased from Arrow Air in 1988 - Embraer 145
- Fokker F.VIIFokker F.VIIThe Fokker F.VII, also known as the Fokker Trimotor, was an airliner produced in the 1920s by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker, Fokker's American subsidiary Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and other companies under licence....
- Junkers F.13Junkers F.13The Junkers F.13 was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft, developed in Germany at the end of World War I. It was an advanced cantilever-wing monoplane, with enclosed accommodation for four passengers. Over 300 were sold...
- Junkers Ju-52
- Ilyushin Il-62Ilyushin Il-62The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...
- Ilyushin Il-14Ilyushin Il-14The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese...
- Ilyushin Il-18Ilyushin Il-18The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades...
- Ilyushin Il-12Ilyushin Il-12The Ilyushin Il-12 was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.-Design and development:...
- Lisunov Li-2Lisunov Li-2The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by the GAZ-84 works at Moscow-Khimki, and subsequently at GAZ-33 at Tashkent-Vostochn. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.-Design and...
- Lockheed L-1011Lockheed L-1011The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, commonly referred to as the L-1011 or TriStar, is a medium-to-long range, widebody passenger trijet airliner. It was the third widebody airliner to enter commercial operations, following the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Between 1968 and 1984, Lockheed...
, 1 leased from LuzairLuzairLuzair - Transportes Aéreos, S.A. is an airline based in Lisbon, Portugal, specializing in wet lease and ad-hoc charter operations. It was founded in 1997. In 2000, Luzair developed into an airline consulting and brokerage business. It operated a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar until 2009, it now operates...
for Warsaw-Toronto flights - Lockheed Model 10 ElectraLockheed Model 10 ElectraThe Lockheed Model 10 Electra was a twin-engine, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2...
- Lockheed Model 14 Super ElectraLockheed Model 14 Super Electra|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, René J. Lockheed Aircraft since 1913. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987. ISBN 0-85177-835-6.-External links:*...
- McDonnell Douglas DC-10McDonnell Douglas DC-10The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...
- Piper Seneca IIPiper PA-34 SenecaThe Piper PA-34 Seneca is an American twin-engined light aircraft, produced by Piper Aircraft since 1971 and still in production in 2011.The Seneca is primarily used for personal and business flying.-Development:...
- PWS-24PWS-24- See also :-References:*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 -External links:*...
- SE-161, leased in 1947
- Tupolev Tu-154Tupolev Tu-154The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range narrow-body airliner designed in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. As the mainstay 'workhorse' of Soviet and Russian airlines for several decades, it serviced over a sixth of the world's landmass and carried half of all passengers flown...
- Tupolev Tu-134Tupolev Tu-134The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
- Vickers ViscountVickers ViscountThe Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
- Yakovlev Yak-40Yakovlev Yak-40The Yakovlev Yak-40 is a small, three-engined airliner that is often called the first regional jet transport aircraft...
Corporate identity
LOT's current livery was introduced in the late 1980s and has undergone no major changes since. The livery is essentially based on a euro-white scheme with elements of traditional aviation design incorporated. The latter elements are visible in the design of LOT's livery as the area of dark blue under the cockpit's windscreen, the long cheat-line which is painted down the side of each plane and the large traditional logo which is emblazoned on each aircraft's tailplane.However, with the delivery of new Boeing 787
Boeing 787
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It seats 210 to 290 passengers, depending on the variant. Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use...
long-haul aircraft in 2011/12, LOT has taken the decision to replace its current livery with a fresh new design. This design is intended to retain the tradition and spirit of LOT and there will be no major or radical changes to the livery applied to the airline's planes. The most obvious will be the elimination of the blue nose piece and broad cheat-line which runs down each plane's fuselage and the removal of the 'POLSKIE LINIE LOTNICZE' title from each aircraft's starboard side; these will instead be replaced with the words 'POLISH AIRLINES', analogous to the port-side titles in the airline's current livery composition. The tailplane's design will change only slightly, with the colours of the traditional encircled crane logo being inverted and the circle becoming a more simple outline ring. Additionally, the positioning will be such as the circle (with crane) will not entirely fit on the tail. Finally, the colours of the Polish flag, present at the top of the circle in the current LOT livery, will be moved to the bottom of the tailplane and will not connect with the logo. It is hoped that the design, along with the entry into service of the new high-spec 787s, will help refresh LOT's image in the public eye.
Aircraft naming
At present, of LOT's Boeing 767Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
s, three are named in honour of Polish cities. In addition to this, two further aircraft previously operated by LOT were named; however there are also two long-range aircraft which have notably never bourn the name of any Polish city, this testifies to the fact that the airline seems to be rather inconsistent in its application of this policy. Currently it is unclear as to whether this practice will continue upon arrival of LOT's Boeing 787
Boeing 787
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It seats 210 to 290 passengers, depending on the variant. Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use...
s and the introduction of the airline's new, updated, euro-white livery.
Miles & More
LOT's frequent-flyer program is called Miles & More, and is shared among several European airlines, including Austrian AirlinesAustrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines is the flag carrier airline of Austria, headquartered in Office Park 2 on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Wien-Umgebung and a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Together with regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways and charter arm Lauda Air, it operates...
, Adria Airways
Adria Airways
Adria Airways d.d. is the Slovenian national airline. Today, the majority of Adria Airways business is in scheduled flights. Adria operates to 16 cities throughout Europe this winter and offers excellent connections to South East Europe. It is a Star Alliance member since 2004 and a Lufthansa...
, Croatia Airlines
Croatia Airlines
Croatia Airlines d.d. is the national airline and flag carrier of the Republic of Croatia. Based in Buzin, Zagreb, the airline is a member of Star Alliance and operates domestic and international services. Its main base is Zagreb Airport, with focus cities being Dubrovnik and Split...
, Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
, Luxair
Luxair
Luxair S.A., Société Luxembourgeoise de Navigation Aérienne, operating as Luxair, is the flag carrier airline of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It operates scheduled services to 50 destinations in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean and Middle East, plus charter and seasonal summer services....
, Swiss International Air Lines
Swiss International Air Lines
Swiss International Air Lines AG is the principal airline of Switzerland operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Its main hub is Zurich Airport...
, and Brussels Airlines
Brussels Airlines
Brussels Airlines is a flag carrier airline headquartered in the b.house on the grounds of Brussels Airport and in Diegem, Machelen, Belgium and a subsidiary of Lufthansa. It is the largest airline based in Belgium, operating to over 65 destinations in 20 European countries as well as long-haul...
. Miles & More members may earn miles on LOT flights and Star Alliance partner flights, as well as through LOT credit cards, and purchases made through the LOT Polish Airlines shops. Status within Miles & More is determined by miles flown during one calendar year with specific partners. Membership levels include: Basic (no minimal threshold), Frequent Traveller (Silver, 35,000 mile threshold), Senator (Gold, 100,000 mile threshold), and HON Circle (Black, 600,000 mile threshold over two calendar years). All non-basic Miles & More status levels offer lounge access and executive bonus miles, with the higher levels offering more exclusive benefits.
Polonez Lounge
LOT operates, in cooperation with PPL (Polish State Airports), the 'Polonez' Business Lounge at Warsaw Chopin Airport. The lounge is accesible to anyone with a business class ticket for travel with LOT or any other Star AllianceStar Alliance
Star Alliance is the world's first and largest airline alliance, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany . The alliance was founded in 1997 by five of the world's leading airlines: Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International and United Airlines...
member airline, and those who are members of a Star Alliance 'Gold' loyalty program (such as Miles & More Senator status) or the Polish State Airports authority's 'Good Start' program. The Polonez lounge recently, in 2010, underwent a major refit and is now able to offer high-quality standards of service to all passengers who wish to make use of it. Some examples of services offered to passengers include business conferencing facilities, internet access, work space, local, national and foreign-language media (newspapers and television) and, a new development, individual access to an Apple iPad.
The Polonez lounge's opening hours are currently coordinated with those of LOT's flight schedule, however, it has been stated that these times are open to review at any time and could well be changed in the future. The lounge is located in Chopin Airport's Terminal A, one floor above the departures lounge (in the Schengen zone after security check), and is accesible by stairs and lift.
Fatal
- On 15 November 1951 at approximately 09:00 local time, a LOT Lisunov Li-2Lisunov Li-2The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by the GAZ-84 works at Moscow-Khimki, and subsequently at GAZ-33 at Tashkent-Vostochn. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.-Design and...
(registeredAircraft registrationAn aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
SP-LKA) crashed near TuszynTuszynTuszyn is a small town in Łódź East County, Łódź Voivodeship, central Poland, with 7,201 inhabitants .-External links:**...
in bad weather and low visibility conditions, killing the 15 passengers and three crew on board. The aircraft had been on a scheduled flight from Łódź to KrakówKrakówKraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
.
- One passenger died on 19 March 1954, when a LOT Li-2 (registered SP-LAH) collided with a hill near GruszowiecGruszowiecGruszowiec is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dobra, within Limanowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately west of Dobra, west of Limanowa, and south-east of the regional capital Kraków.-References:...
following the blackout of a radio beacon.
- On 14 June 1957 at 23:10 local time, LOT Flight 232 from Warsaw to MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, which was operated by using a Ilyushin Il-14Ilyushin Il-14The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese...
(registered SP-LNF) crashed during approach of Vnukovo International AirportVnukovo International AirportVnukovo International Airport , is a dual runway international airport located southwest from the centre of Moscow, Russia. It is one of three major airports serving Moscow...
in bad weather and visibility conditions, killing five of the eight passengers and four of the five crew members.
- On 19 December 1962, a LOT Vickers Viscount 804Vickers ViscountThe Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
(registered SP-LVB) crashed upon approaching Warsaw-Okecie Airport after having encountered a stall situationStall (flight)In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases. This occurs when the critical angle of attack of the foil is exceeded...
, killing the 28 passengers and five crew members on board. The aircraft had been on a scheduled flight from BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
to Warsaw with an intermediate stop at East BerlinEast BerlinEast Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
.
- On 20 August 1965 at 13:08 UTC, another LOT Vickers Viscount (registered SP-LVA) crashed near Jeuk, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
during a thunderstorm. The four people that had been inside the aircraft on a ferry flight from LilleLilleLille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to Wrocław were killed.
- On 2 April 1969 at 16:08 local time, a LOT Antonov An-24W (registered SP-LTF), crashed into PolicaPolicaPolica, locally known as Police, is a mountain, , in southern Poland near Zawoja, in the Żywiec Beskids mountain range.LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 crashed on the northern slope of Police on 2 April 1969...
, a mountain near ZawojaZawojaZawoja is a village in Southern Poland located close to Maków Podhalański. It is situated in Sucha County . With neighbouring village of Skawica it constitutes a rural Zawoja Commune. It has 6,200 inhabitants and is often mentioned as one of the biggest Polish villages...
. The aircraft with 48 passengers and five crew on board had been operating Flight 165LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165LOT Polish Airlines Flight LO 165, operated by an Antonov An-24 aircraft, registration SP-LTF, en route from Warsaw to Cracow Balice airport crashed during a snowstorm on the northern slope of Polica mountain near Zawoja in southern Poland on 2 April 1969 at 16:08 local time , killing all 53...
from Warsaw to Kraków when the pilots lost orientation because of a snowstorm. There were no survivors.
- On 13 May 1977, a LOT Antonov An-12Antonov An-12The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.-Design and development:...
(registered SP-LZA) operating a cargo flight from Warsaw to BeirutBeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
via VarnaVarnaVarna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
crashed at approximately 08:45 local time near AramounAramounAramoun is a village in Aley District in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon....
, LebanonLebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, killing all nine people on board, some of who were working for a Polish secret service. The aircraft had been approaching Beirut International AirportBeirut Rafic Hariri International AirportBeirut Rafic Hariri International Airport is located 9 km from the city centre in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon and is the only operational commercial airport in the country. It is the hub for Lebanon's national carrier, Middle East Airlines...
, but the pilots had encountered language difficulties when communicating with the local air traffic controllers, so that they likely lost the orientation. The aircraft had been operated by the Polish Air ForcePolish Air ForceThe Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej...
and transported weapons for the Lebanese Civil WarLebanese Civil WarThe Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
.
- On 14 March 1980 at around 11:00 local time, LOT Flight 7 from New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Warsaw crashed during a landing attempt at Warsaw-Okecie Airport, killing all the 77 passengers and ten crew members that had been on board the Ilyushin Il-62Ilyushin Il-62The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...
(registered SP-LAA), including singer Anna JantarAnna JantarAnna Jantar-Kukulska was a popular Polish singer and mother of Natalia Kukulska.Born in Poznań as Anna Maria Szmeterling, she graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. She began her career in 1968 with the song Po ten kwiat czerwony. A year later she became the lead vocalist of the band...
. The pilots had encountered a landing gear problem and started a go-aroundGo-aroundA go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach.- Origin of the term :The term arises from the traditional use of traffic patterns at airfields. A landing aircraft will first join the circuit pattern and prepare for landing in an orderly fashion...
procedure, during which the no. 2 engine disintegrated, damaging rudder and elevator control lines and causing the Ilyushin to enter an uncontrolled descend.
- On 26 March 1981, a LOT An-24 (registered SP-LTU) crash-landed near Słupsk following the loss of one propeller, killing one passenger. The other 46 passengers and five crew survived.
- On May 1987 at 11:12 local time, LOT Flight 5055 from Warsaw to New York crashed in Warsaw, around 5 km from the Warsaw-Okęcie Airport, killing the 172 passengers and 11 crew members on board, what makes it the deadliest accident for both the airline and the country. The aircraft involved, an Ilyushin Il-62Ilyushin Il-62The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...
(registered SP-LBG), had encountered an engine explosion, which started a fire in the cargo hold. The pilots had tried to return to Warsaw-Okecie Airport, but lost control due to the extensive damage the elevatorsElevator (aircraft)Elevators are flight control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's orientation by changing the pitch of the aircraft, and so also the angle of attack of the wing. In simplified terms, they make the aircraft nose-up or nose-down...
had suffered.
- On 2 November 1988, LOT Flight 703 had to execute an emergency landing on a field near RzeszówRzeszówRzeszów is a city in southeastern Poland with a population of 179,455 in 2010. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River, in the heartland of the Sandomierska Valley...
following an engine failure, killing one passenger. The other 24 passengers and four crew on board the An-24 (registered SP-LTD) survived, though most of them received serious injuries.
No fatalities reported
- On 26 May 1948, a LOT Lisunov Li-2Lisunov Li-2The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by the GAZ-84 works at Moscow-Khimki, and subsequently at GAZ-33 at Tashkent-Vostochn. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.-Design and...
(registeredAircraft registrationAn aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
SP-LBC) crashed near PopowicePopowicePopowice may refer to the following places in Poland:*Popowice, Lower Silesian Voivodeship *Popowice, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship *Popowice, Łódź Voivodeship...
.
- On 28 March 1950, a LOT Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registered SP-LCC) was damaged beyond repair in a crash landing.
- Only one day later, on 29 March 1950, the airline lost another aircraft (a Lisunov Li-2, registration SP-LBA) in a crash.
- On 19 May 1952, a LOT Li-2 (registered SP-LBD) was damaged beyond repair in a crash landing near Sowina.
- On 18 July of the same year, another LOT aircraft had to be written off, this time a Ilyushin Il-12Ilyushin Il-12The Ilyushin Il-12 was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.-Design and development:...
(registered SP-LHC) following a crash landing at Warsaw-Okecie Airport.
- On 15 March 1953, a LOT Douglas C-47 (registered SP-LCH) crashed near KatowiceKatowiceKatowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
.
- On 14 April 1955, another LOT Li-2 (SP-LAE) crashed near Katowice, with none of the 15 persons on board being killed.
- On 11 April 1958, a LOT Convair CV-240 (registered SP-LPB) crash-landed near Warsaw and was damaged beyond repair, after it had lost one propeller in mid-flight. There were only four people on board who had operated a training flight with the aircraft; all of them survived.
- On 25 August 1960, a LOT Li-2 (registered SP-LAL) crashed near TczewTczewTczew is a town on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 60,279 inhabitants . It is an important railway junction with a classification yard dating to the Prussian Eastern Railway...
.
- On 16 December 1963, another LOT Li-2 (registered SP-LBG) was damaged beyond repair when it overshot the runway upon landing at Warsaw-Okecie Airport. The twelve passengers and three crew on board survived.
- On 24 January 1969 at 17:30 local time, a LOT Antonov An-24Antonov An-24The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:...
(registered SP-LTE) collided with trees during a landing attempt at Wrocław in poor visibility conditions, and crashed. The aircraft had been operating Flight 149 from Warsaw with 44 passengers and four crew members on board, all of which survived.
- On 19 April 1973, a LOT An-24 (registered SP-LTN) crashed during a training flight near RzeszówRzeszówRzeszów is a city in southeastern Poland with a population of 179,455 in 2010. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River, in the heartland of the Sandomierska Valley...
.
- On 23 January 1980, a LOT Tupolev Tu-134Tupolev Tu-134The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
(registered SP-LGB) was damaged beyond repair when it overshot the runway upon landing at Warsaw-Okecie Airport and erupted in flames.
- On 31 December 1993 at 10:20 local time, the Boeing 767-300ER (registered SP-LPA) operating LOT Flight 2 from Warsaw to ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
received substantial damaged to its nose gear in a hard landing incident at O'Hare International AirportO'Hare International AirportChicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
.
- On 01 November 2011 a Boeing 767-300ER (registered SP-LPC) operating as LOT Flight 16 from Newark Liberty (KEWR)Newark Liberty International AirportNewark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
to Warsaw Chopin (EPWA) reported the failure of the hydraulic system that operated the flapsFlap (aircraft)Flaps are normally hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed an aircraft can be safely flown at and to increase the angle of descent for landing without increasing air speed. They shorten takeoff and landing distances as well as...
and landing gearUndercarriageThe undercarriage or landing gear in aviation, is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi, takeoff and land...
. When the backup system was activated, only the flaps were operable. All attempts to lower the landing gear failed. This forced the jet to make a belly landingBelly landingA belly landing or gear-up landing occurs when an aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device...
which is rare for modern jetliners. The crew managed to land the aircraft safely with no fatalities.
Hijackings
During the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, when Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, several LOT planes were hijacked and forced to land in a Western country, predominantly in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and especially in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
, because of it being situated like an island in the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
. The hijackers were usually not prosecuted there, but could claim for political asylum, along with all other passengers who wished to do so.
- On 16 September 1949, five armed people forced a LOT flight from GdańskGdanskGdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
to Łódź to divert to NyköpingStockholm-Skavsta AirportStockholm-Skavsta Airport , or Nyköping Airport is an international airport near Nyköping, Sweden, approximately southwest of Stockholm. It is served by low-cost airlines and cargo operators...
in SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
- On 16 December of the same year, another aircraft on the same route was hijacked, this time it diverted to Bornholm Airport in DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Of the 15 passengers and three crew members on board, 16 decided to claim political asylum.
- On 16 October 1969, a LOT Antonov An-24Antonov An-24The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:...
(registered SP-LTK) was hijacked by two passengers enroute a flight from Warsaw to East Berlin and forced to divert to Berlin Tegel Airport, serving West Berlin.
- Another hijacking of a LOT An-24 occurred on 20 November of the same year, this time on a flight from Wrocław to BratislavaBratislavaBratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, when two passengers forced the pilots to land at Vienna International AirportVienna International AirportVienna International Airport , located in Schwechat and southeast of central Vienna, is the busiest and biggest airport in Austria. It is often referred to as Schwechat, the name of the county it is in. The airport is capable of handling wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340...
.
- On 5 June 1970, a LOT An-24 with 24 people on board was hijacked during a flight from SzczecinSzczecinSzczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
to GdańskGdanskGdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
and forced to land at Copenhagen AirportCopenhagen AirportCopenhagen Airport is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark and the Oresund Region. It is located on the island of Amager, south of Copenhagen city centre, and west of Malmö city centre on the other side of the Oresund Bridge. The airport lies mainly in the municipality...
, where police forces stormed the airplane and arrested the perpetrator. Only four days later, on 9 June, another hijacking attempt occurred on a LOT flight from KatowiceKatowiceKatowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
to Warsaw, but the two persons involved could be overpowered.
- On 7 August 1970, one passenger on board a LOT An-24 flying from Szczecin to Katowice forced the pilots to divert to Germany. As he did not specify his demands any further, the aircraft landed at Berlin Schönefeld Airport in East Germany, where he was arrested.
- On 19 August 1970, five passengers on board a LOT Ilyushin Il-14Ilyushin Il-14The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese...
enroute a scheduled flight from Gdańsk to Warsaw forced the pilots to divert to Bornholm Airport.
- On 26 August 1970, three persons onboard a LOT An-24 on a flight from Katowice to Warsaw demanded to be taken to Austria. The pilots returned to Katowice AirportKatowice International AirportKatowice International Airport is an international airport, located in Pyrzowice, north of center of Katowice, Poland. The airport has third biggest passenger flow in Poland....
instead, where the perpetrators were arrested.
- On 4 November 1976, a LOT Tupolev Tu-134Tupolev Tu-134The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
(registered SP-LHD) was foced by two passengers to leave its scheduled route from CopenhagenCopenhagenCopenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
to Warsaw and land at Vienna International AirportVienna International AirportVienna International Airport , located in Schwechat and southeast of central Vienna, is the busiest and biggest airport in Austria. It is often referred to as Schwechat, the name of the county it is in. The airport is capable of handling wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340...
instaed, where they surrendered to local police forces.
- On 24 April 1977 another LOT Tu-134 (registered SP-LGA) was hijacked, this time on a flight from KrakówKrakówKraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
to NurembergNurembergNuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
in West Germany. The pilots returned to Kraków-Balice AirportJohn Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice-Traffic:Figures in MillionsThe busiest international routes are to London and Dublin.-Getting there:In addition to road access by private car or taxi, other options are:-By train:...
, where the aircraft was stormed and the hijacker arrested. Another hijacking attempt could be put down on 18 October of that year on board of a LOT An-24 (registered SP-LTH) enroute from Katowice to Warsaw.
- On 30 August 1978, LOT Flight 165 enroute from Gdánsk to East Berlin was hijacked by two East German cititzens who forced the pilots to land the Tu-134 involved (registered SP-LGC) at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin. Next to the hijackers, another six people decided to claim political asylum, thus making it one of the largest successful escapes over the Berlin WallBerlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
.
- On 4 December 1980, a LOT An-24 (registered SP-LTB) was hijacked during a flight from Zielona GóraZielona GóraZielona Góra is a city in Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, with 117,557 inhabitants within the city limits and 294,000 inhabitants within the metropolitan area, including three neighbouring counties ....
to Warsaw and forced to land at Berlin-Tegel Airport. The same aircraft was involved in another hijacking attempt on 10 January 1981, when four passengers demanded to be taken to a Western country during a flight from Katowice to Warsaw. This time, the pilots continued to Warsaw-Okecie Airport, though, where the perpetratos were arrested.
- Another LOT aircraft (an An-24 registered SP-LTI) was forced to land at Tegel Airport on 21 July 1981, after having been hijacked during a flight from Katowice to Gdánsk. Again, on 5 August of that year, another hijacking attempt occurred on board the same aircraft on the same flight, but the perpetrator could be restraint and arrested upon landing at Gdańsk Airport. Only some days later, on 11 August, another hijacking attempt on the same route was taken down, again on a LOT An-24 (registered SP-LTT).
- On 22 August 1981, a hijacker succeeded in his demands that the aircraft involved (a LOT An-24 registered SP-LTC) be diverted to Berlin-Tegel Airport from its original route from Wrocław to Warsaw. On 18 September of the same year, twelve passengers rioting on board another LOT An-24 (registered SP-LTG) on a flight from Katowice to Warsaw and demanded the aircraft to divert to West Berlin. A SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Mil Mi-8Mil Mi-8The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
tried to intercept the aircraft before landing at Tegel Airport, but failed to do so. Two similar attempts failed over the following days: On 22 September four passengers tried to highjack a LOT flight from Warsaw to KoszalinKoszalinKoszalin ; is the largest city of Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland. It is located 12 km south of the Baltic Sea coast. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...
, but the pilots returned the An-12 (registered SP-LTK) to Warsaw-Okecie Airport instead, were the perpetrators were arrested. On 29 September, one hijacker demanded the LOT flight from Warsaw to Szczecin to divert to West Berlin; again the pilots landed the An-12 (registered SP-LTP) in Warsaw.
- On 30 April 1982, eight passengers forced a LOT An-12 (registered SP-LTG), that was operating a flight from Wrocław to Warsaw, to divert to Berlin-Tegel Airport.
- On 9 June 1982, two highjackers on board a LOT flight from Katowice to Warsaw demanded the pilots to divert to West Germany. Instaed, the aircraft landed in Poland were the perpetrators were arrested.
- On 25 August 1982, two passengers forced the LOT flight from BudapestBudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
to Warsaw, that was operated using an Ilyushin Il-18Ilyushin Il-18The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades...
(registered SP-LSI) to divert to Munich Riem Airport. A similar incident occurred on 22 November of that year, when the flight from Wrocław to Warsaw (operated by the An-24 registered SP-LTK) was forced to land at Berlin-Tegel Airport.
- On 25 February 1993, a man forced his way into a LOT ATR 42ATR 42-Civil operators:The largest operators of the ATR-42 are FedEx Express, Airlinair, TRIP Linhas Aéreas,and Mexico City-based Aeromar respectively. Number of aircraft as of 2010:Some 70 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type....
at Rzeszów-Jasionka AirportRzeszów-Jasionka AirportRzeszów-Jasionka Airport is an international airport located in southeastern Poland, in Jasionka, a village from the center of the city of Rzeszów. It is the seventh-busiest airport in Poland, and has seasonal transatlantic connections....
during the boarding process for Flight 702 to Warsaw, threatening to detonate a hand grenade. Police forces stormed the aircraft in which there was a total number of 30 people at the time of the assault, during which the perpetrator (who turned out to be unarmed) was shot at and could thus be overpowered.