LOT remains confident despite Swissair's problems

LOT Polish airlines has moved swiftly to give assurances that the problems of its strategic partner Swissair will not have any adverse effect on its o wn services. LOT spokesman Leszek Chorzewski is quoted as saying, "It does not mean that the problems of Swissair will be transferred automatically to LOT." He added that the company does not expect any aid from the Polish gov ernment, even in the event of the Swiss carrier being declared bankrupt. Sw issair announced yesterday that because of its financial difficulties, it c ould not guarantee that all its flights will take off this week. Also yeste rday, the Swiss Cabinet held a special meeting to discuss measures for resc uing the company. The Prawo i Gospodarka daily reports that despite its rea ssurances over the Swissair situation, LOT still faces difficulties because of the problems affecting the international airline industry. The paper sug gests that LOT will have to limit the frequency of some flights, and even h alt operations on some routes. However, spokesman Chorzewski remains positi ve, insisting that the airline is planning a series of promotional campaign s. As for ticket prices, "They will remain as they were in the old schedule s," he told Rzeczpospolita. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 1; Rzeczpospolita, p. B 3; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 25) P.W.