LOT Polish Airlines

1921 The Polish Aviation Association "Aerotarg" is established for a short period of time and in May and June organizes Poland's first regular airline between Poznan and Warszawa. 1922 A limited liability company under the name Polish Airline "Aerolloyd" is founded. On Septembe...morer 5th startup of a regular connection from Gdansk to Warszawa and further to Lvov. On September 5th it lunches of a regular connection from Gdansk to Warszawa and further to Lvov. 1925 "Aerolloyd" is transformed into the "Aerolot" joint stock company and its technical base is transferred from the airport in Gdanks - Wrzeszcz to the airport in Warszawa - Mokotow. "The Aero" air transportation enterprise is established in Poznan and begins carrier service on the Poznan-Lodz-Warszawa route. 1928 The Civil Aviation Division at the Ministry of Transportation develops a program to make fundamental changes in air transportation, including the dissolution of all private aviation companies. On December 29th, 1928 one state enterprise, "Linje Lotnicze LOT Sp. z o.o.", replaces those companies. 1929 January 1st - LOT begins its operations. Its network is being expanded to include two new routes: from Warszawa to Katowice and Bydgoszcz. Advertisement activity: posters and folders advertising Polish air transportation, promotional flights and sightseeing flights over Warszawa and the surrounding area. May - organization of a special additional flight connecting Warszawa with Poznan on the occasion of the National Expo. A contest is held to select the enterprise's graphic mark. Tadeusz Gronowski, wins the contest at the end of the year with his design of a stylized crane in flight. The company's name is expanded to include the word "Polish" - full name is: "Polskie Linje Lotnicze LOT Sp. z o.o." 1930 LOT Polish Airlines is accepted into the International Association of Air Transportation IATA. LOT purchases 10 three-engine Fokker FVIIb 3M aircraft. 1931 The "crane" is acknowledged as the emblem of LOT Polish Airlines. The Warszawa-Lvov-Czerniowce-Bucharest route is established. 1932 The growing number of passengers and increasing interest in air transport results in a speedy expansion of LOT's network. LOT starts to operate flights to Sofia, Athens, Helsinki, Thessalonica, Berlin, Budapest, Venice, Rome, Copenhagen, and to Riga and Tallinn via Vilnius. 1934 Five years after its establishment LOT relocates its registered seat at the new Warszawa airport, Okecie, a modern airport with technical facilities including hangars, workshops and warehouses. 1945 Reactivation of the pre-war enterprise, LOT Polish Airlines - under imposed government management. March - May: a network of domestic LOT branch offices is established. LOT's first post-war advertisement poster presents an airplane flying over ruins next to a flock of cranes. The message on the poster: "LOT wings helping in the reconstruction of Poland". The first flight schedule - a piece of paper on which the domestic flight network is sketched, specifying days, times of take-off and landing and the type of plane servicing a given route. July 18th - The State Enterprise LOT Polish Airlines is established by a decree of the Council of Ministers. The director general is Wojciech Zielinski, a pre-war LOT proxy. 1946 Ten Li-2 planes are received from the military and the first post-war route is started up between Warszawa and Gdansk. LOT purchases 9 Douglas DC-3 plans and restarts its domestic network of flights and international flights to Berlin, Paris, Stockholm and Prague. 1949 The LOT's fleet is expanded with five 18-seat IL-12 planes. Brussels is included in the network of flights. By the end of the 1940's LOT is able to reestablish connections with Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen and Brussels. 1955 Delivery of the first of thirteen IL-14 planes. Routes are opened to Vienna and Moscow. LOT flies its one-millionth passenger. 1957 Delivery of three American Convair CV-240 planes. 1958 Flights form Warszawa to London and Zurich commence. 1960 LOT introduces its first turboprop aircraft, ordering eight 100-seat Iliuszyn IL-18s. The number of passengers carried since company's establishment of the company exceeds two million. 1962 The purchase of three turboprop planes - Viscount 804. 1963 Lunching of the first post-war LOT connection outside Europe, to Cairo and later to Baghdad, Beirut, Benghazi, Damascus and Tunis. 1968 The beginning of the jet aircraft era in Polish civil aviation. On November 6th the first of five Tupolev TU-134 planes lands in Warszawa. These mid-range fast aircraft were introduced to the European routes in place of the Antonov AN-24 planes and on some routes which were still served by Iliuszyn IL-18 planes. Startup of flights from Warszawa to Kiev and Istanbul. 1969 Opening of the new passenger terminal at the Warszawa-Okecie Airport. 1972 The first long-haul Iliuszyn IL-62 planes were introduced to the fleet. 1973 April, 16th - opening of a regular Warszawa-New York service. 1974 The Charter Flight Division is established. 1976 First flight to the Far East, to Bangkok via Dubai and Bombay. By the end of the 1970's LOT flies regularly to Kuwait, Tripoli and Algiers 1978 Artist Roman Duszek and Andrzej Zbrozek design new graphics for LOT. Planes are painted white, with LOT written in cursive letters slanted to the right on the front section of the fuselage and the "crane" and Polish flag on the tail. 1981 Autumn 1981 - some Western carriers suspend their connections with Warszawa. December 13th - martial law imposed in Poland - all flights are suspended. 1984 After a two-year break charter flights to New York and Chicago are reestablished. 1985 April 28th - regular flights to New York and Chicago renewed. During the first half of the 1990' new routes were started up from Warszawa to New Delhi and Beijing. 1986 A decision is made to withdraw Iliuszyn IL-18 and Tupolev Tu-134 planes. New mid-range Soviet Tu-154M planes arrive in Warszawa and are successively introduced to European and Near East routes. Transatlantic charters operate to Detroit and Los Angeles. 1988 A decision is made to purchase American aircraft which significantly effects the shape and possibility of Poland's national airline. By purchasing brand-new Boeing 767 planes, LOT becomes the first airline in Central and Eastern Europe to use American planes. Launching of service to Singapore - LOT's longest route. 1989 First two Boeings enter service. LOT is the host of the IATA General Meeting. LOT flies the largest number of passengers in its history - 2.3 million passengers over the course of one year. 1990 The third and largest Boeing 767-300 ER lands at Warszawa-Okecie Airport. 1991 The first Franco-Italian ATR-72 planes are added to LOT's fleet. Startup of flights to Vilnius, Kiev, Minsk and Lvov. Warszawa becomes a transit point on Europe's map. 1992 Delivery of Boeing 737 planes. December - LOT Polish Airlines is transformed into a joint stock company of the State Treasury in order to adapt to new market economy conditions. New frequent flyer program - LOT Voyager - is introduced for passengers who frequently travel with LOT. The construction of the catering and cargo terminal is completed. 1993 Flights are started from Warszawa via Stockholm to Oslo, from Katowice to Frankfurt, from Warszawa to Riga and Wroclaw to Dusseldorf via Poznan. 1994 A code-share agreement is signed with American Airlines. LOT starts services from Kraków to Vienna and from Warszawa to Tallinn, Thessalonica, Zagreb and Nice. LOT Polish Airlines has the newest fleet of all airlines worldwide - as it appears from a report ordered by IATA and prepared by Australian consulting company BDW Aviation Service. 1995 New services from Gdansk to Copenhagen and from Kraków to Zurich. A LOT's promotional campaign is conducted on the American market and LOT is the only airline to receive 2nd place during the International Advertisement Festival CLIO'95 held in San Francisco, in the category of printed tourist advertisements. The campaign slogan is "Poland is free. The flight very reasonable." 1996 The prestigious British magazine Business Travel World awards LOT Polish Airlines as the Best Central and Eastern European Airline in Business Class. LOT receives that same award in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Inauguration of flights from Warszawa to Munich and Stuttgart and from Wroclaw to Frankfurt and from Poznan to Copenhagen. 1997 LOT establishes a subsidiary aviation association, EuroLOT, which services domestic flights. It also participates in creating a Central European transit point in Warszawa and in developing foreign flights with lower traffic intensity. 1998 Business Traveller awards LOT as the Best Eastern European Airline. It receives the same award in 1999 and 2000. The largest amount of chartered flights in history. 2000 In the Winter 00/01 season LOT significantly increases the number of offered flights. This is mainly connected with the process of transforming the Warszawa-Okecie Airport into a Qualiflyer Group hub. Thanks to this, Warszawa becomes an attractive point not only for local traffic but also for transit travel. New services to: Zagreb, Tallinn, Bucharest, London (Gatwick). The network of regular LOT flights includes 43 cities worldwide and 9 cities in Poland. The LOT fleet is expanded with 8 Embraer ERJ-145 and 3 Boeing 737-500 planes. That is the largest annual delivery of planes in the company's history. At the end of the year LOT's fleet consist of: 5 Boeings 767s, 18 Boeings 737s, 10 Embraer ERJ-145s, 8 ATR-72s and 5 ATR-42s. In connection with its entry into The Qualiflyer Group, LOT changed its LOT Voyager frequent flyer program to the Qualiflyer Program. 2001 In the year 2001 the airline carried 3.2 million passengers which is the best annual result in the airline's history.Once again, LOT found itself among the world's best airlines - the quality of in-flight service, professionalism, promptness and quality of meals were awarded by OAG and Business Traveller.Launching of new connections from Warsaw to Odessa, Gothenburg, Beirut, Damascus and Zielona Gora. 2002 February - At the meeting of the CEOs of the airlines participating in the The Qualiflyer Group, held in Zurich on February 8, 2002, a decision was taken to terminate the co-operation within the alliance. The Qualiflyer Frequent Flyer Program will continue unaltered - all other joint actions within the alliance will be discontinued. April - Jan Litwinski, President and CEO of LOT Polish Airlines, and Jürgen Weber, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, signed a Memorandum of Understanding between LOT and Lufthansa. They also signed a code-share agreement on the joint operation of air services between Poland and Germany. These agreements are an important step towards LOT's Star Alliance membership. Flights are started from Warszawa to Kaliningrad and Bratislava. May - LOT Polish Airlines received for the second time the prestigious award "Best Airline Based in Eastern Europe 2002" - handed out by OAG. June - The Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance assembled in Shanghai approved the addition of LOT Polish Airlines to its membership. LOT's candidature was accepted unanimously. July - The Polish flag carrier LOT Polish Airlines and ATR today announced the signature of a contract for 5 ATR 42-500. They will be operated by LOT's regional subsidiary EuroLOT. Deliveries are scheduled to take place this summer. New generation ATR42-500s will replace older ATR42-300s operates now by EuroLOT. LOT Polish Airlines has decided to join the Miles & More program developed by Lufthansa, a German flag carrier, as of 1 January 2003.