LOT cuts international flights as domestic market booms

LOT Polish Airlines has suspended flights on more than a dozen international routes, due to global terrorism fears and the financial problems of its stra tegic investor Swissair. LOT will no longer fly from Warsaw to Stuttgart, Da mascus and London Gatwick, and some international flights from other Polish cities will be scrapped as well. There will also be fewer flights between Wa rsaw and Istanbul, Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Beirut. It is normal for LOT to reduce the number of flights in the winter period, but this year the cuts ar e much deeper than previously, as a result of the global slump in air travel . However, LOT plans no changes in its domestic operations, where it is reco rding a steady increase in passenger numbers. In the first six months of thi s year, the airline flew more than 307,000 passengers domestically, a 52% in crease over the respective period of 2000. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 5) T.J.