15 Dreamliners by the end of 2019 - LOT Polish Airlines Orders More Boeing 787s

Warsaw, 25 April 2018 – Polish Airlines LOT announced that an order has been placed for the next three Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to be delivered in 2019. In total LOT’s fleet now includes eight smaller B787-8s and one larger B787-9. Given all contracts signed by LOT, six Dreamliners will be added to its fleet in 2018-2019

LOT signed operational lease agreements with Avolon Aerospace Leasing Limited companies for three new machines, Boeing 787-9s, to be delivered straight from the Boeing Everett factory. The deliveries are scheduled for May 2019 (two machines) and for October 2019 (another aircraft). The term of the lease agreements is 12 years.

“The new aircraft mean new connections. We are glad that thanks to another contract for new Dreamliners, we will be able to continue to develop our network of long-haul connections in record time. In total by the end of 2019 we will have had as many as 15 Boeing787s, which not only is LOT’s historical record but also evidence that we can actually recognize our strategy as successfully implemented. LOT betted on an aircraft larger than its B787-9s with a seating capacity of 294 and hit the bull’s eye as the interest in our services among passengers has been steadily increasing” says Adrian Kubicki, Head of LOT’s Corporate Communications. “At present we operate 13 direct long-distance flights and each new machine is an opportunity to launch another one or two new routes,” adds he.

Until now LOT has had four Boeing 787-9s contracted. After placing the new order, their total number went up to seven. The first aircraft of that type has already been delivered and another one is scheduled to be delivered in May 2018. The first Boeing 787-9 has been operating regular flights to Chicago and Toronto, the other machine will be used to operate the flights on the Warsaw-New York City route (JFK) as well as some flights to Seoul.

All in all by October 2019 LOT will have had 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners which means that also that aspect of LOT’s strategy for 2016-2020 will be successfully implemented ahead of time. LOT has also been negotiating the purchase of another three wide- and narrow-body aircraft.

LOT’s fleet has been growing in record time. Apart from new Dreamliners, LOT has also been waiting for the delivery of four out of six Boeing 737 MAX 8s which have been ordered, and five out of six Embraer 195s. Two more Bombardier Q400s are going to be added to LOT’s fleet for at least 6 months as well.

“Each new machine means new jobs and promotion opportunities available both to pilots and cabin crew” says Adrian Kubicki from LOT. “One new Dreamliner means employment or promotion opportunities for 15 captains and 10 first officers and jobs for approx. 100 new members of the cabin crew. In that way LOT remains to be the largest and also the most attractive employer among the airlines in Poland” adds Kubicki.

Fleet and connection development is part of the consistently implemented profitable growth strategy, which assumes that LOT’s annual passenger traffic will have totaled 10.5 million. Currently LOT’s passenger traffic is over 6.8 million passengers per year using the fleet comprising 54 modern aircraft. In total nine Dreamliners branded by LOT operate direct flights from Warsaw to New York, Newark, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, as well as from Kraków to Chicago and from Rzeszów to Newark. In May 2018 LOT is going to launch new long-haul connections from Warsaw to Singapore as well as from Budapest to New York City and Chicago.