LOT Announces Further Development And Is Looking For New Pilots

Warsaw, 25 June 2018. The dynamically developing LOT Polish Airlines company plans to acquire 300 additional pilots for their operational bases in Warsaw and Budapest by the end of 2019

LOT is looking for captains and first officers for the Bombardier Q400 and Embraer 170/190 planes. For pilots with a license and the required flying time, the carrier will finance the Type Rating training. In connection with the development of LOT, within three years it is possible to receive training for Boeing: B737 or B787 Dreamliner passenger planes.

“Unlike many airlines, LOT provides the new pilots with a complete training package, for which they do not have to bear any additional costs. Additionally, unlike other airlines in the region, we give our aircraftsmen the opportunity to develop professionally. The rules of promotion are not based solely on seniority, but primarily on actual skills and experience”, says Adrian Kubicki, Director of LOT Corporate Communications. “The operating base for the new pilots will be either Warsaw or Budapest. Our offer is addressed to candidates from Central and Eastern Europe, e.g. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In the coming weeks representatives of our LOT Crew broker will appear on each of these markets to present our offer during the open days”, he announces.

The applicants for a captain's license must include a currently valid liner license, a valid first class medical certificate, total flight experience of 3,000 hours, including at least 1,000 hours in multiperson crew, ICAO level 5 English language proficiency and the right to work in the EU. LOT has implemented the principles of an English cockpit on board, which is why it does not require knowledge of the Polish language. The candidates for first officer must have, among other things, a liner license (which may be frozen) and a minimum total flight experience of 200 hours.

Today more than 600 pilots work with LOT to make regular scheduled and charter flights. Starting cooperation with LOT, the pilot gains versatile possibilities of development: from the turboprop Bombardier Q400, through narrow-body jets such as Embraer and Boeing 737 (including B737 MAX 8) to the wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

“LOT is the only dynamically developing and financially robust network airline in Central and Eastern Europe. This gives pilots the prospect of long-term cooperation. The offer, which together with our LOT Crew broker is addressed to pilots, is additionally attractive due to the advantage of permanent assignment to one of two operational bases: in Warsaw and Budapest. Unlike low-cost carriers, LOT crews are not expected to change their base locations frequently, which reduces the comfort of work and may have a negative impact on family life”, adds Adrian Kubicki from LOT.

LOT is the only airline from Central and Eastern Europe with a significant and growing segment of long-haul flights. Today the Polish carrier has 10 B787 Dreamliner planes in its fleet, but taking into account the current orders, by the end of 2019 their number in the fleet will increase to 15. “This means that the fleet of wide-body planes will be larger than that of e.g. Austrian Airlines or Eurowings in the upcoming year, and comparable to, among others, SAS and Finnair”, Kubicki says.

Apart from the five additional LOT Dreamliners, LOT is also waiting for the delivery of another of the ordered narrow-body Boeings 737 MAX 8, whose number will increase from the present four to 12 by the end of 2019. In July six additional Embraers 195 will be delivered, and by the end of the year four Embraers 190 will have been added to the fleet.

According to Flight Global, LOT is today the fastest growing airline in Europe. Last year, LOT carried 6.8 million passengers, i.e. 25% more than the year before. It plans to reach the level of 9 million passengers this year and exceed 10 million in 2019.

The carrier offers 101 scheduled flights, including direct flights from Warsaw to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and from Budapest to New York and Chicago.

In January 2019 LOT will celebrate its 90th anniversary and is therefore among the most experienced European airlines. In 2017 LOT earned PLN 288 million on its core business (EBITDA). Only a year earlier the same figure was PLN 188 million.

We invite captains and first officers to our hospitable decks. More information can be found at www.lot.com in the Career tab and on industry websites