is an
Airline based in
Poland . The company employs 4,200 people and reaches 49 destinations in 31 countries.
Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport is their home base and main hub. The name ''Polskie Linie Lotnicze'' means Polish Airlines, while ''LOT'' means 'the flight' in Polish.
The airline was founded on
1 January 1929 when all private airlines in the country were merged into one national airline. The first aircraft used were
Junkers F.13 and
Fokker F.VII . Accepted into IATA in
1930 , its first international service began on
April 1 of that year, to
Bucharest , followed by
Athens ,
Beirut and
Helsinki .
Douglas DC-2 ,
Lockheed L-10A Electra and
L.14H Super Electra joined the fleet in
1935 ,
1936 and
1938 respectively (at its peak, LOT had 10 L-10, 9 L-14, 3 DC-2 and 1
Ju 52/3mge ).
Services were suspended during the
Second World War , and all of LOT's aircraft were either destroyed or detained. In
1945 , seven years after the service was suspended, the airline restarted its operations after receiving 10
Lisunov Li-2 , then a further Li-2 and 9
Douglas C-47 . Domestic services restarted on
April 1 1945 , while international services restarted on
May 11 1945.
Five
SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc s joined the fleet in July
1947 , followed by the
Ilyushin Il-12B in April
1949 and
Ilyushin Il-14 s in
1955 . The
Convair 240 and
Vickers Viscount were first acquired in October
1957 and November
1962 .
During Poland's period of
Communist rule, the composition of the fleet shifted to
Soviet aircraft. The
Ilyushin Il-18 was introduced in May
1961 , leading to the establishment of routes to
Africa and
Middle East . The
Antonov An-24 was delivered in April
1966 , followed by the
Tupolev Tu-134 in November
1968 and the
Ilyushin Il-62 long range
Jet Airliner in April
1973 . The introduction of Il-62 aircraft enabled transatlantic services to
Montreal and
New York . The current planes' livery was introduced in
1978 .
In the late
1980s , the fleet shifted back to Western aircraft, beginning with acquisitions of the
Boeing 767-200ER in April
1989 , followed by the
ATR 72-200 in August
1991 ,
Boeing 737-500 in December
1992 and
Boeing 737-400 in April
1993 . From the mid- 1990's LOT flew from
Warsaw to
Chicago ,
Newark and
Toronto .
On
October 26 ,
2003 , it became the fourteenth member of the
Star Alliance . LOT plans to open new connections to Far East in October 2006.
In 2004-2005, LOT began evaluating new aircraft for long haul operations, particularly the
Airbus A330 and
Airbus A350 and the
Boeing 787 , as replacement for its aging
Boeing 767 aircraft. Poland's treasury ministry, which owns around 68% of the airline, has advised LOT to seek an independent review of its long-haul fleet analysis, as the airline has yet to make a selection, several months after it was expected to reach a decision (ref: Flight International, July 2005).
LOT was the first airline to operated the commercial service on
Embraer 170 .
LOT decided that new aircraft for long haul operations will be
Boeing 787 . The Polish flag carrier ordered 7 Boeing 787-8 and have option for the 7 more Boeing 787-9 (September 2005). LOT will be a launch carrier for the 787 type.
Eurolot , a wholly-owned subsidiary airline was founded on
July 1 1997 . In 2005, a wholly-owned subsidiary
No-frills Airline named
Centralwings was launched. Centralwings operates in co-operation with
Lufthansa 's subsidiary
Germanwings . Although independently owned, the airlines share
Frequent Flyer Program s and co-ordinate scheduling.
The LOT fleet consists of the following aircraft (at April 2006):
Aircraft ordered include:
LOT will be the first operator of the Boeing 787 in Europe.
