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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 'the flight' in Polish.

Code Data

• IATA Code: LO
• ICAO Code: LOT
• Callsign: Lot

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. On 31 October 2005 LOT is due to start new flights to Delhi in India, but it depends on permission for more flight for Continental Airlines and British Airways to India. LOT is considering transit passengers from India to the UK and the United States. In the 2007 to 2009 period LOT plans to open new connections to Beijing, Singapore and Bangkok.

LOT is evaluating new aircraft for long haul operations, particularly the Airbus A330 and Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787, as replacement for its 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).

Subsidiaries

LOT have a wholly-owned subsidiary airline Eurolot which was founded on July 1 1997. LOT has also recently launched Centralwings, a budget airline and partner of Lufthansa's Germanwings. The new airline was launched in early 2005.

Fleet

The LOT fleet consists of the following aircraft (at April 2005):

• 3 Boeing 767-300
• 2 Boeing 767-200
• 6 Boeing 737-500
• 5 Boeing 737-400
• 2 Boeing 737-300
• 14 Embraer ERJ-145
• 6 Embraer ERJ-170
• 8 ATR 72-202 (EuroLOT)
• 5 ATR 42-500 (EuroLOT)

External links

• LOT
• LOT Jet Fleet Detail
• LOT Passenger Opinions

v t e Members of Star Alliance
Current members	Founder members Air Canada Lufthansa Thai Airways International United Airlines Full members Aegean Airlines Air China Air India Air New Zealand All Nippon Airways Asiana Airlines Austrian Airlines Avianca Brussels Airlines Copa Airlines Croatia Airlines Egyptair Ethiopian Airlines EVA Air LOT Polish Airlines Shenzhen Airlines Singapore Airlines South African Airways Swiss International Air Lines TAP Air Portugal Turkish Airlines Affiliate members Air Canada Express Jetz Rouge Air India Express Air Japan Air New Zealand Link Airlink ANA Wings AJet Avianca Costa Rica Ecuador El Salvador Express Guatemala Honduras Copa Airlines Colombia Lufthansa Regional Olympic Air TAP Express Uni Air United Express
Joint partners	Intermodal Deutsche Bahn Connecting Juneyao Air
Former members	Adria Airways Ansett Australia Blue1 British Midland International Continental Airlines Mexicana de Aviación Scandinavian Airlines Shanghai Airlines Spanair TAM Brasil Paraguay US Airways Varig

• Airlines of Poland