In the spotlight: Lot's high flyer

However, just five hours after Mazur was appointed the new head of Lot, the Treasury Ministry issued a statement saying: "The Ministry is considering calling an assembly of shareholders, the agenda of which could include the dismissal of PLL Lot's president." According to the Ministry, the supervisory board had made a list of three names for the second round of consideration in the candidacy proceedings. Mazur's name was not on this list.

In the statement, the Ministry stated that it would investigate whether any third party had influenced Lot's supervisory board.

Mazur holds a pilot's license, although he has never been employed as a pilot. He graduated from the Central School of Planning and Statistics (today known as the Warsaw School of Economics) and speaks seven languages, including Japanese. He is a former member of the supervisory boards of PKB and BGK banks as well as Stalowa Wola Steelworks. From 1991 to 1993, Mazur was also an advisor on public-finance reform to a Deputy Prime Minister.

The new president, if his mandate is confirmed, will certainly have a gargantuan task in front of him. Lot's president needs to come up with a solution for the troubled Central Wings, Lot's loss-making budget-airline subsidiary, and find a way to increase the main carrier's shrinking passenger numbers.