Polskie line Lotnicze LOT

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LOT Polish Airlines
Log or LOT
Boeing 787-8 of LOT
IATA code : LO
ICAO code : LOT
Call sign : LOT
Founding: 1928
Dissolution: 1939
Re-establishment: 1945
Seat: Warsaw , PolandPolandPoland 
Turnstile :

Warsaw

Home airport : Warsaw
Company form: SA
IATA prefix code : 080
Management: Rafał Milczarski
Number of employees: 2,028 (2014)
Sales: PLN 300 million (2016)
Passenger volume: 8.8 million (2018)
Alliance : Star Alliance
Frequent Flyer Program : Miles & More
Fleet size: 78 (+ 12 orders)
Aims: National and international
Website: www.lot.com

The LOT Polish Airlines SA ( Polish for "Polish aviation lines FLIGHT AG"), short- LOT , the largest Polish airline based in Warsaw and based on the local Chopin Airport Warsaw . It has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state-owned Polska Grupa Lotnicza (PGL) and a member of the Star Alliance airline alliance since 2018 .

history

Start time

Fokker F.VIIa of LOT
Flight preparation of a LOT F 13 at Warsaw Airport, 1934

In 1928, the decision by the Polish Ministry of Aviation that all private airlines, in particular the active Aero and Aerolot (formerly Aerolloyd) and other companies in the founding phase, were to be combined in a state airline, laid the foundation for the creation of Linje Lotnicze LOT Sp. z oo laid. The airline started operating on January 1, 1929, and Polskie was added to the company's name in May of that year . It started with 16 Junkers F 13s taken over by Aerolot and six Fokker F.VIIa ordered by Aero but no longer taken over . Later, the F.VIIb, built under license, and the Polish PWS-24 model were added. Mokotów Airport in Warsaw served as the home base (from 1925 to 1934) and Okęcie from 1934 to the present day . On April 1, 1930, LOT opened the Lemberg – Czerniowce– Bucharest route, the first international line. This was followed by Athens , Beirut and Helsinki . In the same year the LOT was accepted into the international umbrella organization for airlines IATA .

In 1931, LOT acquired a Gipsy Moth for business aviation , but later replaced it with an RWD-5 and finally an RWD-13 .

A LOT Douglas DC-2 in the 1930s

In the years 1935 to 1939 the fleet was modernized. The remaining nine Junkers F 13s were given to Dessau against a Junkers Ju 52 . In addition, US aircraft models with retractable landing gear were Douglas DC-2 (3), Lockheed 10A Electra (10) and Lockheed 14 Super Electra (10). These planes shortened travel times considerably, and it was now possible to fly in difficult weather conditions. From the mid-1930s, LOT used the ZZ procedure for bad weather landing, among other things . This forerunner of an instrument landing system (ILS), developed in the German Reich , relied on radio direction finding and the transmission of Morse code for course correction by a ground station at the airport. However, due to the risky all-weather flight operations, a total of six modern aircraft were destroyed in various accidents, with the first fatalities in Polish civil aviation. By 1938, the Fokker F.VII of both versions and the PWS-24 were gradually withdrawn from passenger traffic, but individual machines were converted for aerial photogrammetry flights . In 1938 a first series of four Polish PZL PZL.44 Wicher was ordered, but the order was canceled by mutual agreement shortly before the outbreak of war.

In 1938 the company was renamed Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT, as the spelling rules in Poland had changed that year.

Right before the outbreak of World War II, the following lines were in operation:

Second World War

During the Second World War, the flight operations were stopped and the company was dissolved. In early September 1939, most of the LOT airworthy aircraft were evacuated to Romania. All hangars and airport buildings as well as the aircraft under repair or maintenance were destroyed by bombing. The planes evacuated to Romania were all fictitiously sold to Great Britain (to Imperial Airways ) in order to avoid internment as Polish government property and, if necessary, to be able to continue using the planes for military purposes such as troop transport. However, their onward flight to Great Britain via Turkey was prevented by the Romanian authorities because Great Britain had meanwhile also entered the war. Similarly, an airplane ( Lockheed 14H SP-BPN ) was seized in Estonia. Three Lockheed 14Hs were flown from Poland via Sweden to Great Britain in time, two of which were loaned to BOAC . However, the departure of the LOT flight crew from Romania to Great Britain and France was successful. Many pilots, including the experienced Polish commercial pilot Kazimierz Burzyński , joined the Polish Air Force in Great Britain and flew transport aircraft.

Reactivation after the war

IL-18 of the LOT at Frankfurt Airport (1967)
Tupolev Tu-134 of the LOT (1985)

After the war, the state decided in early 1945 to reactivate the company in the form of compulsory operation as a Sp. Z oo (equivalent to a GmbH) under the leadership of General Director Wojciech Zieliński (prewar authorized officer of LOT). On July 18, 1945, the Council of Ministers decided to restructure LOT into a state-owned company. As a result, Sp. Z oo was removed from the commercial register on September 30th and a state-owned company Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT - Przedsiębiorstwo Państwowe (equivalent to a VEB ) was entered on the following day . After receiving Lissunow Li-2 (initially ten machines) and Douglas DC-3 (up to nine machines), operations could be carried out nationally on April 1 (with Li-2) with the Warsaw– Danzig line and on May 11, 1946 international (with DC-3) from Warsaw to Berlin-Schönefeld , Paris , Stockholm and Prague airports . In the following years, the air fleet was expanded to include Soviet ( Ilyushin Il-12 , Ilyushin Il-14 ) with French ( Sud-Est SE.161 ), American ( Convair CV-240 ) and British ( Vickers Viscount ) aircraft types.

In 1955, the one millionth passenger was carried since flight operations resumed.

Poland's political and economic dependence on the Soviet Union forced LOT to retire all remaining aircraft types from Western manufacturers in the mid-1960s, as the procurement of spare parts for the aging machines became increasingly difficult due to the chronic lack of foreign currency . Only aircraft from Soviet manufacturers such as Ilyushin Il-18 , Ilyushin Il-62 , Tupolew Tu-134 and Antonov An-24 were used.

In 1963, non-European destinations were served for the first time after the Second World War, first Cairo , then Baghdad, Beirut , Benghazi, Damascus and Tunis . With the Ilyushin Il-62, transatlantic destinations such as Montréal and New York (initially charter, later line) could be served for the first time. In 1967 the LOT carried 680,000 passengers on the 38,000 km network at the time.

In 1976 LOT flew to Bangkok Airport (via Dubai and Mumbai ), the first destination in the Far East .

In 1978, the artists Roman Duszek and Andrzej Zbrożek designed the aircraft, which was used until 2012: predominantly white, the front of the fuselage labeled LOT in italics, the tail unit is blue and shows a crane and the Polish flag.

Between 1980 and 1981 flight operations completely collapsed as a result of the political problems in Poland . It wasn't until 1984 that the situation calmed down and first international destinations such as New York could be served again.

Extermination of Soviet aircraft types

The decision to flee Ilyushin Il-18 and Tupolev Tu-134 was made in 1986. At the same time, Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft were purchased and gradually used on European lines and in the Middle East. After the accident on LOT flight 5055 , a leased Douglas DC-8 from Arrow Air was operated on the route to New York from September 1987 . The machine was flown by US pilots, while LOT provided the flight attendants .

In 1988, the longest flight route to date, Warsaw - Singapore, went into operation.

Also in 1988, following a decision by the board of directors, work began on replacing the aircraft that had previously been produced in the Soviet Union with more modern western aircraft. The reason was the fall of the Iron Curtain , which is why LOT had to face the international competition . It started in April 1989 with the purchase of Boeing 767-200 ER (a third machine was added to the fleet in 1990). In addition, ATR 72-200 came to the fleet in 1991 , Boeing 737-500 in December 1992 and Boeing 737-400 in April 1993 .

Post-turnaround time

In November 1992, shares in the company were sold on the stock market for the first time . In the same year, LOT introduced the LOT Voyager frequent flyer program . In 1993, new connections to other European countries (such as Katowice - Frankfurt ) were established at some Polish airports . In 1994 American Airlines signed a code share agreement with LOT. According to an IATA report, LOT had the youngest fleet of any IATA member worldwide that year.

In 1999 LOT signed a contract to order Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft . This was to ensure that there were more flights overall and that Warsaw would be connected to the largest cities in Europe several times a day. In the same year, LOT joined the global airline association The Qualiflyer Group .

A comparison of annual reports from 2003–2005
2003 2004 2005
Income from basic activity

(Net from sales) (million PLN)

2857 2914.2 2771.7
Result for the basic activity

(Net from sales) (million PLN)

7.2 −14.3 91.9
Net result (PLN million) −109 18th 88.6
Number of passengers carried: 3 742 075 4,022,542 3,578,202
of which scheduled flights:

-Foreign countries

-Inland

3,372,298

2,553,134

819 164

3 601 995

2,733,788

868 207

3,553,681

2,749,453

804 221

of which charter flights: 369 777 420 547 24 521
Freight transport (thousand t): 21.5 21.8 20.5
Boeing 737-400 of LOT in earlier livery

expansion

The previous home airport Warsaw-Okęcie was restructured in 2000 and expanded to become the airline's hub. This made it possible to turn the airport into a hub and to transport national and international transit passengers. In addition to other new destinations such as Zagreb and Tallinn , the airline received eleven new aircraft (eight ERJ-145 and three B737-500). This was a new record for LOT, never before had so many new aircraft been put into service within a year.

In 2001, three million passengers were received on the flights for the first time. The route network was also expanded this year (e.g. Odessa ).

In 2002 the alliance The Qualifier Group was dissolved by the airlines. So LOT tried to join an alliance. This took place in the form of a codeshare agreement with Lufthansa , which paved the way for the Star Alliance . In the same year a contract was signed to purchase five ATR-42s (500 series).

Since October 26, 2003 LOT has been the 15th member of the international aviation alliance Star Alliance . Since January 2003 she has been a fully integrated member of Lufthansa's frequent flyer program Miles & More . In the same year, LOT decided to buy Embraer 170 aircraft . Due to the Star Alliance, further codeshare contracts followed, including with United Airlines and All Nippon Airways .

In 2004, LOT became the first airline in the world to take possession of the Embraer 170 . The first flight of the aircraft type was Warsaw - Vienna . In the same year the airline's 75th anniversary was celebrated; stamps, FDC envelopes and an album were released to celebrate . In that year, four million customers made use of LOT's services. In addition, tickets for domestic flights have also started to be sold electronically on the Internet as electronic tickets .

In 2005 LOT announced the purchase of Boeing 787 aircraft . In 2006 she added the first four Embraer 175 machines to the fleet. In November 2008, the two Boeing 767-200ERs left the fleet to save costs.

In 2009 LOT carried 4.1 million passengers. In the same year, the share of the syndic of SairLines BV, which was meanwhile bankrupt (25.1%), was bought back by the Ministry of State Assets . The shares in the airline now belonged to the state (93.1%) and the employees of LOT (6.93%).

The airline EuroLOT, founded in 1996, also belonged to the company . Among other things, the subsidiary leased two Embraer 175s to the Polish Air Force for VIP transport, which compensated for the loss of one of its Tu-154Ms in the crash in Smolensk . The leasing contract ran until 2013, and one machine was repainted to match the other VIP machines of the Polish Air Force. The EuroLOT ceased operations on March 31, 2015.

Crisis and takeover bids

Boeing 767-300ER of LOT in Star Alliance special livery

The former low-cost airline Centralwings , founded by LOT in 2004, had to file for bankruptcy in June 2009. In the same month, however, LOT Charters began flight operations. This airline operates holiday and charter flights with currently four former Boeing 737-400s from the parent company. The marks are SP-LLE, SP-LLF, SP-LLG and SP-LLK . The aircraft, which only have economy class seats, are around 16 years old on average.

Turkish Airlines announced interest in buying LOT in May 2010, and German Lufthansa was first publicly interested in buying it in September 2010. In both cases, however, no deal was reached.

Consolidation since 2011

In June 2011, as part of the presentation of a Boeing 787-8 , which LOT had ordered for delivery from 2012, a new livery for the fleet was presented. In addition, for the first time these new machines have an additional premium economy class .

In 2011 LOT was able to reduce its losses to 34.7 million euros. At the beginning of 2012 it became known that the LOT was to be sold by May 2012, otherwise the airline could go bankrupt .

On November 14, 2012, after a delay of several months, LOT became the first European airline to receive its first new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner .

In September 2013 it was announced that the austerity and restructuring measures were showing success and that the second part of a state aid package would therefore not be used. At the same time, the cancellation of some economically unattractive routes was announced to optimize the route network; Flights to Düsseldorf , Stuttgart and Zurich should be canceled for the upcoming winter flight schedule.

On September 8, 2016, Rafał Milczarski presented a new strategy in Krynica, which aims to double the number of passengers by 2020, just like doubling the LOT fleet in the period 2017-2020.

In October 2016 LOT issued a letter of intent to purchase fifteen Boeing 737 MAX 8s. In addition, four 737-800 are to be leased. In January 2017, LOT also signed a letter of intent to purchase nine Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

Polska Grupa Lotnicza

Holdings

The state-controlled parent company Polska Grupa Lotnicza (PGL), based in Warsaw, was founded on February 6, 2018 and is the largest aviation company in Poland.

In addition to the airline LOT, PGL also includes the subsidiaries LOT Aircraft Maintenance Services (LOTAMS), LS Airport Services (LSAS) and LS Technics (LST).

Failed takeover of Condor Flugdienst

On January 24, 2020 it was announced that the LOT parent company Polska Grupa Lotnicza (PGL) wanted to take over the German Condor Flugdienst .

Condor has been looking for a buyer since the bankruptcy of its parent company Thomas Cook in October 2019. The takeover agreement included PGL's commitments not to cut any further jobs and to modernize the fleet with at least 20 new aircraft. The feeder cooperation between Lufthansa and Condor should also be maintained under PGL as the new owner. By April 15, 2020, the loan of EUR 380 million provided by the federal government and the state of Hesse should be repaid in full; There was also an objection period for the competent antitrust authorities until April 2020 . The takeover was to be financed by a consortium of financial institutions Pekao , PKO and PZU , while the state-owned development bank BGK provided guarantees.

Since LOT got into economic difficulties due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic , the PGL announced on April 13, 2020, without further explanation, that it was withdrawing from the purchase contract.

administration

The headquarters of LOT in Warsaw
Cabin of a Boeing 787-8 of the LOT

Current board of directors

The board consists of the following people (2019):

  • Rafał Milczarski (Chairman)
  • Mariusz Błaszkiewicz (LOT Board Member for Finance and Economics)
  • Maciej Wilk (Chief Operating Officer)
  • Michał Fijoł (Chief Commercial Officer)
  • Stefan Malczewski (Chief Corporate Officer)

Directors (1929–1992)

  • Tomasz Turbiak (1929–1930)
  • Wacław Makowski (1930-1939)
  • Wojciech Zieliński (1945–1947)
  • Czesław Mankiewicz (1947–1950)
  • Sergiusz Minorski (1950–1957)
  • Andrzej Skala (1957-1959)
  • Jan Krzywicki (1959–1963)
  • Jan Zwierzyński (1963–1969)
  • Włodzimierz Wilanowski (1969–1980)
  • Józef Kowalski (1981–1986)
  • Jerzy Słowiński (1986–1990)
  • Bronisław Klimaszewski (1990–1992)

CEO (since 1992)

  • Jan Litwinski (1992 – March 2003)
  • Marek Grabarek (April 2003 – October 2005)
  • Krzysztof Kapis (March 2006 – February 2007)
  • Marek Mazur (March 2007)
  • Piotr Siennicki (April 2007 – March 2009)
  • Sebastian Mikosz (March 2009 – September 2010)
  • Zbigniew Mazur (September 2010 – November 2010)
  • Marcin Piróg (November 2010 – February 2013)
  • Sebastian Mikosz (February 11, 2013– August 31, 2015)
  • Marcin Celejewski (August 31, 2015– January 28, 2016, acting)
  • Rafał Milczarski (since January 28, 2016)

Destinations

In addition to numerous Polish cities, LOT serves several destinations in Europe , Canada , the USA , Latin America and Asia . In German-speaking countries there are flights to Berlin , Düsseldorf , Nuremberg , Stuttgart , Frankfurt , Hamburg , Hanover , Munich , Vienna , Geneva and Zurich .

In cooperation with several European, American and Asian airlines, LOT offers additional destinations via codeshare . This is further strengthened by LOT's membership in the Star Alliance .

fleet

Current fleet

Boeing 737-400 of LOT
Embraer 195 of the LOT
Embraer 170 of the LOT (with special painting)

As of April 2020, the LOT fleet consists of 78 aircraft with an average age of 9.0 years:

Aircraft type number ordered Remarks Seats 1
( Business / Eco + / Eco )
Average age

(April 2020)

Boeing 737-400 2 Should be retired in 2021/2022 and replaced by Boeing 737 MAX 8 ; both inactive 162 (27/18/117) 23.0 years
Boeing 737-700 01 17.3 years
Boeing 737-800 07th 186 (12/18/156) 13.4 years
Boeing 737 MAX 8 05 10 + 5 options; leased from ALC ; Worldwide flight ban for 737 MAX: all inactive, further deliveries stopped; SP-LVD in Proud of Poland's Independence - special livery 186 (12/18/156) 2.0 years
Boeing 787-8 08th + 6 options; first delivery on November 14, 2012; LOT is the European launch customer of the 787 252 (18/21/213) 5.9 years
Boeing 787-9 07th 02 Delivery from March 2018; SP-LSC in Proud of Poland's Independence - special livery 294 (24/21/249) 1.4 years
Bombardier CRJ900 10 88 (- / - / 88)
90 (- / - / 90)
13.8 years
De Havilland DHC-8-400 12 SP-EQK in 100 Years of Aeroclub of Poland - special paint 78 (- / - / 78) 8.6 years
Embraer 170 06th SP-LDK in Star Alliance special livery 70 (14/10/46) 13.1 years
Embraer 175 10 SP-LIO in Star Alliance special livery, SP-LIM in retro special livery 82 (22/10/50) 15.4 years
Embraer 190 04th 106 (? /? /?) 1.3 years
Embraer 195 15th 0 SP-LNB in Grześki - special painting, SP-LNC in Śliwka Nałęczowska - special painting 112 (20/12/80) 9.7 years
total 78 12 9.0 years
1 Only Economy Class is offered for regional and short-haul flights

Former aircraft types

In the past, LOT operated the following types of aircraft, among others:

Special feature regarding the fleet

It is extremely unusual that LOT, as the largest active airline in an EU country, has never added an Airbus aircraft to its fleet. LOT shares this feature with Ryanair , but while the Irish airline  hopes to reduce maintenance and staff training costs by restricting it to a single type of aircraft - the Boeing 737-800 , this explanation does not apply to PLL LOT given its diverse fleet.

The company's manager, Rafał Milczarski, said in an interview with Business Insider Polska magazine , “They are ready to work with any aircraft manufacturer that offers a good product, provides the necessary support in the operation of the machines and grants the leasing conditions that they give us make it possible to generate a profit from aviation services ”.

Although they are satisfied with the Boeing machines they operate, they are “not tied to working with a single aircraft manufacturer” and “the conviction that Airbus cannot be a supplier to LOT” is “a miscalculation”. Rather, since Milczarski took over the management of the company (ie since 2016), Airbus has "had several opportunities to deliver machines to LOT, but did not take advantage of these opportunities".

In the area of ​​regional jets , too, LOT has long been limited to machines from the manufacturers Bombardier (Canada) and Embraer (Brazil), while the last delivery of an ATR 72-200 in 1996 was more than 20 years ago.

As of July 2020, LOT has not placed any orders with Airbus or ATR.

Frequent flyer program

LOT is a "fully integrated partner" of the Lufthansa frequent flyer program Miles & More . In Germany, the line therefore also accesses Lufthansa's lounge infrastructure. The line has its own lounge at its home hub in Warsaw . In addition to business class passengers, Star Alliance Gold members are also entitled to access . There is a separate lounge for gold card holders and HON Circle members, it consists of three rooms and a computer area - there are no showers. Business Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members are picked up separately from the aircraft when it is parked on the apron.

Incidents

Aviation accidents

A total of 35 total write-offs of aircraft occurred at LOT from 1937 to December 2019. 423 people were killed. Examples:

  • On December 1, 1936, a Lockheed L-10A (SP-AYB) crashed near Malakasa in poor weather conditions after a pilot's mistake. One pilot was killed.
  • On December 28, 1936, a Lockheed L-10A (SP-AYA) crashed due to icing near Tomaszów Lubelski , a pilot and two passengers died.
  • On November 11, 1937, a Lockheed L-10A (SP-AYD) crashed in Myszadło near Piaseczno while approaching Warsaw Airport without seeing the earth using the ZZ procedure . The cause was a communication error with inadvertent transmission of the landing order, which concerned another aircraft on approach. Four passengers died, the crew of two and six other passengers survived.
  • On November 23, 1937, a Douglas DC-2 (SP-AJS) crashed in the Pirin Mountains on the flight from Saloniki to Sofia due to a navigation error . All five inmates died.
  • On August 18, 1938, a Lockheed L-14H (SP-BNJ) burned at Bucharest-Băneasa Airport while taxiing after landing. All occupants were able to leave the aircraft on time.
  • On May 31, 1948, three of the four engines of a Sud-Est SE.161 Languedoc (SP-LDA) failed on the scheduled flight to Paris with a stopover in Strasbourg . The pilot Viktor Pełka managed a field landing at Reims . The inmates were uninjured. The damage to the machine was classified as repairable and repaired in France. However, due to a lack of foreign exchange, LOT did not pick up the plane.
  • On November 15, 1951, a Lisunow Li-2 of the LOT (SP-LKA) collided with a high-voltage line shortly after taking off from Łódź near Górki Duże near Tuszyn and crashed. Due to engine problems, the commander decided not to continue the onward flight. However, he was probably forced to do so by officers from the Polish Ministry of Security. All 16 people on board died (see also LOT flight accident near Tuszyn ) .
  • On July 18, 1952, an Ilyushin Il-12B (SP-LHC) was irreparably damaged when landing in Warsaw. None of the inmates were harmed.
  • On March 19, 1954, a Lissunow Li-2 (SP-LAH) collided with the slope of Mount Ćwilin in Gruszowice near Limanowa on a flight from Warsaw to Krakow . One passenger died.
  • On August 20, 1965, a Vickers Viscount (SP-LVA) got caught in a storm during a transfer flight and crashed between Jeuk and Sint-Truiden (Belgium). The four-man crew was killed.
  • On January 24, 1969, an Antonov An-24 (SP-LTE) landed in the night 2 kilometers from the runway threshold of Wroclaw Airport . The occupants survived unharmed, the 80% damaged machine was decommissioned.
  • On May 13, 1977, during a cargo flight from Varna to Beirut, an Antonov An-12 crashed on approach, killing the nine-man crew.
  • On March 14, 1980, an Ilyushin Il-62 coming from New York crashed at Warsaw Airport , all 87 passengers on board were killed; the Polish singer Anna Jantar was also among the victims (see also LOT flight LO 007 ) .
  • On March 26, 1981, an Antonov An-24 sank too low on the final approach to Słupsk Airport , so it grazed a tree and fell. One person was killed. The reason was an incorrectly adjusted altimeter.
  • On May 9, 1987, two engines failed on a flight of an Ilyushin Il-62M (SP-LBG) from Warsaw to New York. A fire broke out in the stern of the machine, but the crew did not initially detect it. The pilots then decided to return to Warsaw Airport. However, the machine crashed shortly before the runway. In the most serious accident of the LOT and the IL-62 to date, all 183 passengers and the crew were killed (see also LOT flight 5055 ) .
  • On November 2, 1988, both engines failed while an Antonov An-24 was in flight. When attempting an emergency landing in a field near Rzeszów, the machine was completely destroyed and one person was killed.
  • On November 1, 2011, the Boeing 767-300ER SP-LPC with flight number LO 016 and 231 people on board (220 passengers and 11 crew members) coming from Newark had to make an emergency landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport due to a technical problem without the landing gear extended . The machine landed safely on the fuselage, there were no injuries. According to the airline, there was a problem with the hydraulic system. The Polish Aircraft Accident Investigation Board later found that a hydraulic hose on the brake on the right main landing gear had ruptured. Furthermore, a triggered fuse was found, which is responsible, among other things, for the alternative systems for extending the landing gear. Since the triggering is not recorded in any system display, the pilots were not informed of the problem. The further investigations of the investigation center focused on the reason for the triggering of this fuse. The airport remained closed until the aircraft was recovered. The performance of the pilot Tadeusz Wrona was generally presented very positively in the media. An American passenger praised the soft landing by the pilot. He would never have sat in a plane that landed so perfectly.

Kidnappings

Since in the history of LOT there have been repeated hijackings with the aim of landing in West Berlin or other parts of the Federal Republic of Germany, the abbreviation “LOT” also meant “Landet Ooch (in) Tempelhof” in Berlin. . In this context, the case of August 30, 1978 became famous. On that day a Tu-134 was kidnapped on its way from Danzig to East Berlin by a man who was armed with a pistol. In addition to himself, eight other passengers in West Berlin asked for political asylum. As it turned out afterwards, the weapon was a water pistol, so that the kidnapper escaped with a mild sentence of only nine months in prison.

See also

Web links

Commons : LOT Polish Airlines  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: LOT  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. a b Lista 500 największych polskich firm. ( Memento of August 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Polish), accessed on August 21, 2016.
  2. Factsheet LOT Polish Airlines (Star Alliance) 2017 (English), accessed on August 18, 2017.
  3. ^ Polish LOT takes over Condor , Der Spiegel from January 24, 2020; accessed on January 27, 2020.
  4. Original spelling lin j e, see alsoAbout LOT, accessed November 1, 2011.
  5. ^ Mieczyslaw Mikulski, Andrzej Glass: Polski transport lotniczy 1918-1978 . Warsaw 1980.
  6. ^ History. LOT, accessed on January 27, 2020 .
  7. Aerosport No. 6/1968 (section air traffic ), p. 222.
  8. Tomasz Gzell: Rządowy Embraer z bliska ( Memento from October 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (photo reportage), Onet biznez, December 22, 2010, accessed on November 1, 2011.
  9. Picture of the LOT Charters Boeing 737 SP-LLG. on airliners.net
  10. Turkish Airlines wants to buy LOT and JAT. Airliners.de, May 17, 2010, accessed November 1, 2011.
  11. Poland in view. Frankfurter Rundschau, September 30, 2010, accessed on November 1, 2011.
  12. LOT introduces new livery. Airliners.de, June 24, 2011, accessed November 1, 2011.
  13. airliners.de - LOT with more passengers. February 20, 2012.
  14. Turkish Airlines interested in LOT. Report on airliners.de from January 23, 2012 , accessed on February 12, 2012.
  15. ^ Jon Ostrower: Boeing prepares for world tour of 787. (English), October 20, 2011, accessed on November 1, 2011; [...] LOT will take delivery in 2013 instead of spring 2012
  16. a b austrianwings.info - LOT receives first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. November 14, 2012.
  17. ch-aviation.ch - LOT says recovery plan paying off; announces route rationalizations. (English) September 9, 2013.
  18. aeronews.ro - purchase of new aircraft. (Romanian), accessed October 17, 2016.
  19. LOT takes over Condor. In: Tagesschau.de. January 24, 2020, accessed January 24, 2020 .
  20. ^ Polish airline LOT takes over Condor. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. January 24, 2020, accessed January 24, 2020 .
  21. Stefan Eiselin: Now the new owner Lot reveals the plans for Condor. In: AeroTelegraph. January 24, 2020, accessed January 24, 2020 .
  22. ^ Condor sale failed , faz.net , April 13, 2020, accessed on April 14, 2020.
  23. Board of Directors https://corporate.lot.com/pl/en/management-board
  24. lot.com - route network. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  25. a b c LOT - Polish Airlines Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. April 15, 2020, accessed on April 15, 2020 .
  26. Boeing - Orders & Deliveries , accessed on January 5, 2017.
  27. Lot is expanding its fleet with further Dreamliners , accessed on March 5, 2017.
  28. atwonline.com - LOT Polish Airlines takes delivery of first Boeing 737-800 , accessed on May 14, 2017.
  29. Fleet. Retrieved October 25, 2017 .
  30. Boeing 737-800. (png) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 26, 2017 ; accessed on October 25, 2017 (Polish, English).
  31. PLL LOT: 15 Dreamlinerów do końca 2019 roku. Line zamawiają kolejne Boeingi 787 . ( rynek-lotniczy.pl [accessed May 31, 2018]).
  32. Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher and others: jp airline-fleets international. Zurich Airport 1966–2007.
  33. Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher and others: jp airline-fleets international. Sutton, UK, 2008-2013.
  34. a b planespotters.net - LOT - Polish Airlines Fleet Details and History. (English), accessed March 5, 2018.
  35. aerotelegraph.com
  36. a b c Prezes LOT: Airbus miał szansę dostarczać LOT-owi samoloty, ale z niej niej nie skorzystał. (Polish), accessed August 2, 2018.
  37. LOT accident statistics, Aviation Safety Network. (English), accessed on January 26, 2020.
  38. Katastrofy samolotu pasażerskiego pod Rawą. In: Goniec Częstochowski. December 30, 1936 (PDF)
  39. Szczegóły strasznej katastrofy lotniczej pod Warszawą. In: Goniec Częstochowski. November 14, 1937, pp. 3–4 (PDF)
  40. ^ Accident report Lockheed 14 SP-BNG. Aviation Safety Network , accessed October 19, 2019.
  41. Lockheed accident report 14 SP-BNJ. Aviation Safety Network, accessed October 19, 2019.
  42. ^ Accident report Languedoc SP-LDA. Aviation Safety Network, accessed October 19, 2019.
  43. ^ Accident report Li-2 SP-LKA. Aviation Safety Network, accessed November 10, 2017.
  44. ^ Accident report CV-240 SP-LPB. Aviation Safety Network, accessed October 19, 2019.
  45. ^ Accident report IL-62M SP-LBG. Aviation Safety Network, accessed January 24, 2020.
  46. ↑ Belly landing in Warsaw. Spiegel Online, November 1, 2011, accessed November 1, 2011.
  47. LOT-Boeing lands "on its stomach" without landing gear. Welt Online, November 1, 2011, accessed November 1, 2011.
  48. No injuries after an emergency landing of a LOT Boeing 767-300ER. Aero.de, November 1, 2011, accessed November 1, 2011.
  49. Kerry Reals: LOT cites 'central hydraulic system failure' in Warsaw gear-up landing. (Engl.), Flightglobal, November 1, 2011.
  50. Interim report of the Polish Investigation Authority ( Memento from November 20, 2012 on WebCite ), accessed on July 29, 2013 (4.7 MB)
  51. Fog and crash landing disrupt air traffic. Spiegel Online, November 2, 2011.
  52. ^ Poles celebrate pilots Tadeusz Wrona as "Heroes of Warsaw" ( Memento from November 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Hamburger Abendblatt, November 2, 2011.
  53. ^ NBC report on YouTube