Against the wind
LOT Polish Airlines has hit back after Boeing warned that it was running out of time to secure the first deliveries of its new Dreamliner jet.
The flyer is currently weighing up replacements for its fleet of 767 jets, with Airbus' A330 and the new Boeing 7E7 vying for the zł.1.5 billion contract.
The American firm's vice president of marketing, Randy Baseler, recently said that unless LOT made up its mind soon it would miss the deadline for the prime 7E7 production timeframe.
However, LOT representative Leszek Chorzewski was unswayed by the threat. "Lobbyists for Boeing and Airbus have been very active but at the moment the decision has not been taken.
"People are saying Boeing or Airbus but it is not just a matter of the type of plane. With the choice of Airbus or Boeing you are also choosing, if you like, the philosophy of your local activity for the next 15 years. This is why the decision has a much wider context than just which type of plane," says Chorzewski.
"We have in fact three possible choices: Boeing; Airbus; or we can continue to use out current fleet for the next few years because this fleet is pretty new compared to other companies.
"The first term for our new plane would be in 2006, so in fact we still have a lot of time." N
Centralwings takes off
Following low-cost carrier Centralwings' successful launch last week, chief executive Piotr Kociołek revealed to the WBJ that the airline had already received 20,000 reservations.
"We are very pleased with this because we only began our main advertising drive less than three weeks ago," said Kociołek.
"So far we have received one million hits on our website and interest from tour operators is very strong, with much of our summer charter allocation already taken."
Centralwings is a subsidiary of Lot Polish Airlines and runs in cooperation with its German counterpart Germanwings, offering flights from as little as zł.45 all over Europe.
Centralwings' next major test will come this summer when the cheap-seat allocation is full and passengers face higher fares. J.T.
The flyer is currently weighing up replacements for its fleet of 767 jets, with Airbus' A330 and the new Boeing 7E7 vying for the zł.1.5 billion contract.
The American firm's vice president of marketing, Randy Baseler, recently said that unless LOT made up its mind soon it would miss the deadline for the prime 7E7 production timeframe.
However, LOT representative Leszek Chorzewski was unswayed by the threat. "Lobbyists for Boeing and Airbus have been very active but at the moment the decision has not been taken.
"People are saying Boeing or Airbus but it is not just a matter of the type of plane. With the choice of Airbus or Boeing you are also choosing, if you like, the philosophy of your local activity for the next 15 years. This is why the decision has a much wider context than just which type of plane," says Chorzewski.
"We have in fact three possible choices: Boeing; Airbus; or we can continue to use out current fleet for the next few years because this fleet is pretty new compared to other companies.
"The first term for our new plane would be in 2006, so in fact we still have a lot of time." N
Centralwings takes off
Following low-cost carrier Centralwings' successful launch last week, chief executive Piotr Kociołek revealed to the WBJ that the airline had already received 20,000 reservations.
"We are very pleased with this because we only began our main advertising drive less than three weeks ago," said Kociołek.
"So far we have received one million hits on our website and interest from tour operators is very strong, with much of our summer charter allocation already taken."
Centralwings is a subsidiary of Lot Polish Airlines and runs in cooperation with its German counterpart Germanwings, offering flights from as little as zł.45 all over Europe.
Centralwings' next major test will come this summer when the cheap-seat allocation is full and passengers face higher fares. J.T.
