LOT Polish Airlines

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Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT 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 'flight' in Polish.

History

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 Languedocs joined the fleet in July 1947, followed by the Ilyushin Il-12B in April 1949 and Ilyushin Il-14s 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. This was later accomplished by signing a codesharing agreement with Star Alliance partner Singapore Airlines.

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.

Subsidiaries

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 programs and co-ordinate scheduling.

Fleet

The LOT fleet consists of the following aircraft (at April 2006):

Type	Number	Seats	Notes
Boeing 737-400	3	147
Boeing 737-500	6	108
Boeing 767-200ER	2	202
Boeing 767-300ER	5	243
Embraer ERJ 145	11	48
Embraer E-170	10	70
Embraer E-175	2 (4 on order)	82
Boeing 787-800	(7 on order)		European Launch Customer
Boeing 787-900	(7 on order)		European Launch Customer

• An additional 7 options for Embraer 170/175/195 family (2006-2008)
• 8 ATR 72-202 and 5 ATR 42-500 are used by LOT wholly owned subsidiary, Eurolot

Destinations

Further information: LOT Polish Airlines destinations

See also

• Transportation in Poland

External links

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