LOT is the national airline of Poland. The Star Alliance member reaches about 60 destinations and transports around four million people with its around 50 aircraft every year.
[Show Complete History]
In 1928, the Polish government decided that all existing private airlines should be dissolved for the sake of one national airline - Linje Lotnicze LOT Sp. z o. o. (LOT Airlines Ltd.). The new airline began operations on January 1, 1929. The extension “Polish” was already added in the same year.
With the first planes, Junkers F.13s and Fokker F.VIIs, LOT flew the first international flight to Bucharest in 1930, the year of IATA membership acceptance. Some other new aircraft like the Lockheed L-10A Electra were added in the following years, as well as further foreign destinations.
Due to a change in Polish spelling rules in 1938, the airline was renamed Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT.
During WWII, however, the airline was dissolved completely. Most of the ground equipment and airplanes were destroyed.
In May 1945, LOT was reactivated under state control. Domestic services were continued on April 1, 1946, with several Lisunov LI-10s and international services to Berlin, Prague, Paris and Stockholm later that year, with several Douglas DC-3s.
Ilyushins, Vickers and Convairs were added to the fleet during the 40s and 50s. The 60s, 70s and 80s were dominated by communism and thus by communist aircraft like the Ilyushin Il-18 in 1961, which flew to Africa and the Middle East, the Antonov An-24, the Tupolev Tu-134 and the Ilyushin Il-62, a long-range jet that flew to New York and Montreal.
In 1976, LOT reached the Far East for the first time, Bangkok became a destination. Two years later, Polish artists developed the livery and logo the airline is still using today.
When the Iron Curtain fell, LOT had to face Western competition. In order to be able to do so, they had to buy Western aircraft that were more efficient than the Soviet ones. Consequently, in 1989 Boeing 767s were ordered, followed by ATR-72s in 1991 and Boeing 737s in 1992 and 1993.
LOT went public in 1992, but the Polish government retained 51 % of the stocks. In the same year, a frequent flyer program, LOT Voyager, was introduced.
The airline founded a subsidiary, EuroLOT, in 1997. EuroLOT is serving domestic routes and international destinations with low passenger numbers.
In 1999, LOT purchased Embraer ERJ-145 jets in order to connect Warsaw to major European cities more frequently.
In 2001, LOT transported over three million people for the first time. The route network was continually expanded.
In October, 2003, LOT became Star Alliance member. Preceding this, they had signed code-share agreements with Lufthansa, which had opened the gates to the alliance.
An own low-cost carrier was founded in 2005, Centralwings, which operates flights to several cities in Europe.
LOT will become the first European airline to fly the Boeing 787-800 in 2008. It has ordered a total of eight aircraft of that type.
The airline operates around 50 aircraft and reaches about 60 destinations in Asia, North America and Europe.
[Show Summary]
Please support our sponsors that help to keep this site running.