Lot Polish Airlines

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{{Infobox Airline| airline = LOT Polish Airlines| image = LOT Polish Airlines logo.svg| image_size = 150px| IATA = LO| ICAO = LOT| callsign = LOT| founded = 1 January 1929| secondary_hubs =| focus_cities= * [Katowice International Airport
* John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice
* Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport
* Copernicus Airport Wrocław
* Poznań-Ławica Airport| lounge = Executive Lounge| alliance = [Star Alliance| subsidiaries = * [EuroLOT
* Centralwings, [Poland of [Poland, based in Warsaw. It operates scheduled passenger and cargo services. Domestic services link Warsaw with ten cities. Over 50 routes are operated throughout Europe and to the Middle East, North America. Its main base is at Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport. LOT has been a member of Star Alliance since 2003. Being established in 1929, LOT is one of the oldest airlines in the world.

The airline is owned by the Polish government (67.97%), SAirLines B.V. (a member of SAirGroup) (25.1%) and employees (6.93%). It has 4,199 employees (March 2007).

The name Polskie Linie Lotnicze means "Polish Airlines" in Polish, while lot means "flight".

History

The airline was established on 1 January 1929 by the Polish government as a state owned self governing corporation taking over existing domestic lines Aero and Aerolot, and started operations on January 2 Adam Jońca, Samoloty linii lotniczych 1931-1939, WKiŁ, Warsaw 1985, ISBN 83-206-0504-0. The first aircraft used were Junkers F.13 and Fokker F.VII. Its first international service began on 2 August 1929 to Vienna. Accepted into IATA in 1930, it opened an international route to Bucharest that year, followed by Berlin, Athens, Beirut, Helsinki, Rome and some others. Douglas DC-2, Lockheed L-10 Electra and Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra joined the fleet in 1935, 1936 and 1938 respectively (at its peak, LOT had 10 L-10, 10 L-14, 3 DC-2 and 1 Junkers Ju 52). It carried 218,000 passengers by the war.

Services were suspended during the Second World War, and all of LOT's aircraft were either destroyed or detained. From August 1944 until December 1945 the Polish Air Force maintained basic transport in the country. 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-2, 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.Adam Jońca, Samoloty linii lotniczych 1945-1956, WKiŁ, Warsaw 1985, ISBN 83-206-0529-0

Five SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc joined the fleet in July 1947, followed by five Ilyushin Il-12B in April 1949 and 13-20 Ilyushin Il-14s in 1955-1957. After the stalinism period in Poland, few Western aircraft were acquired: five Convair 240 in October 1957 and 1959 and three Vickers Viscount in November 1962Adam Jońca, Samoloty linii lotniczych 1957-1981, WKiŁ, Warsaw 1986, ISBN 83-206-0530-X. Then the composition of the fleet shifted to Soviet Union aircraft only again.

The Ilyushin Il-18 was introduced in May 1961, leading to the establishment of routes to Africa and Middle East (9 were used). 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 (12 used) 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 City. Tupolev Tu-154 mid-range airliners were acquired in the 1980s. The current planes' livery, with large inscription LOT in blue in fuselage front and blue tailfin, was introduced in 1977.

In the late 1980s, with the fall of the communist system, the fleet shifted back to Western aircraft, beginning with acquisitions of the Boeing 767 in April 1989, followed by the ATR 72 in August 1991, Boeing 737 in December 1992 and Boeing 737 in April 1993. From the mid-1980s to early-1990s LOT flew from Warsaw to Chicago, Newark, New Jersey and Toronto. In December 1992 the airline became a joint stock company, as a transitional step towards partial privatisation, which was effected in late 1999, with the SAirGroup acquiring a 37.6% stake. The Polish government has retained a controlling 51% holding. LOT created low cost arm Centralwings in 2004 Flight International 5-11 April 2005.

On 26 October 2003, it became the fourteenth member of the Star Alliance. The airline has signed a codesharing agreement with Star Alliance partner Singapore Airlines.

Destinations Fleet The LOT Polish Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

{| class="toccolours sortable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"|+ LOT Polish Airlines and Centralwings Fleet|- bgcolor=lightgrey!Aircraft!Total!Passengers
(Business/Economy)!Routes!Notes|-|Boeing 737-400|-|[Boeing 737-300|-|[Boeing 737-500|2|202 (12/190)|Transatlantic and Asian|To be fitted with new long-haul business class
Used for charter flights|-|[Boeing 767-300ER|(8 orders)|278||Entry into service: October 2008
European Launch Customer|-|[Boeing 787-9|11|48|Domestic and European||-|[Embraer 170|6|82|Domestic and European||}

On [7 September 2005 the airline ordered seven (with two options) Boeing 787 for its long haul operations for delivery in 2008. Boeing Press Release (September 2005) LOT Polish Airlines will be a European launch carrier for the 787-8 type. On the 19 February 2007 the airline converted one option to make a total of eight Boeing 787s on order Boeing Press Release (February 2007).

LOT Polish Airlines was the first airline and launch customer to operate commercial services with the Embraer 170.

Retired fleet

Subsidiaries

EuroLOT, a wholly owned subsidiary airline, founded on July 1 1997
In 2005, a wholly owned subsidiary low-cost carrier named Centralwings was launched. Centralwings operates in co-operation with Lufthansa's subsidiary Germanwings. Although independently owned, they share frequent flyer programs and co-ordinate scheduling.

Codeshare agreements The airline has codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of April 2007:

Adria Airways (Ljubljana)
Aeroflot (Moscow)
Aerosvit Airlines (Kiev, Simferpool, Odessa, Lviv, Dontesk, Bangkok, Cairo, Beijing)
Air Canada (London-Heathrow, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Halifax, Quebec City, Edmonton, Victoria, St. Johns)
Air China (Beijing) March 30, 2008 (Then in October 2008 Air China itself will start flying to Warsaw)
All Nippon Airways (Tokyo)
Asiana Airlines (Seoul)
Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
Belavia (Minsk)
BMI (Dublin, Manchester, London-Heathrow)
Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
Bulgaria Air (Sofia)
Croatia Airlines (Split, Dubrovnik, Zagreb)
Lufthansa (Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Koln/Bonn, Hanover October 28, 2007)
EL AL (Tel Aviv)
Rossiya Airlines (Kaliningrad, St.Petersburg)
Scandinavian Airlines System (Copenhagen, Oslo, Stoklholm)
Singapore Airlines (Singapore City)
Spanair (Barcelona, Madrid)
Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich, Geneva, Basel)
TAP (Brussels, Geneva, London, Milan)
TAROM (Bucharest)
United Airlines (Boston, Chicago, Miami, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, New York, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis/St Paul, Detroit, Tampa, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, Portland, OR, St Louis, New Orleans, Kansas City, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, San Diego, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Charlotte, Salt Lake City)

Incidents and accidents

19 December 1962 - Vickers Viscount (SP-LVB) on a scheduled flight from Brussels to Warsaw with a stop in Berlin crashed at the threshold of runway 33 at Warsaw while making a second approach using instrument landing at night in fog and in winter conditions. There were 33 fatalities (all on board).
2 April 1969 - Antonov An-24B (SP-LTF) crashed in the Polish mountains in Zawoja, off course, on a scheduled domestic flight from Warsaw to John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice. There were 53 fatalities (all on board).
14 March 1980 - Ilyushin Il-62 (SP-LAA), LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashed near Warsaw airport after initiating an overshoot procedure due to a landing gear problem. When takeoff thrust was applied, the no.2 engine failed, severing the control cables for the elevator and rudder. There were 87 fatalities (all on board).
9 May 1987 - Ilyushin Il-62M (SP-LBG), LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055. Shortly after departure from Warsaw, the aircraft's no.1 engine suffered an uncontained engine failure. Parts of the engine penetrated the fuselage and damaged the elevator control systems, causing a loss of elevator authority and eventually a loss of control of the aircraft. There were 183 fatalities (all on board), making this Poland's worst air disaster.