LOT still dominates the skies but punctuality is a problem

Its revenues amounted to zł.2.77 billion, a 4.9% rise compared to 2004. Thanks to the fact that charter services were transferred to its subsidiary company Centralwings, LOT managed to cut its costs by 10.5%, to zł.2.68 billion. "A positive financial result in 2005 does not mean that the company managed to fulfill all of its projected goals. The punctuality and regularity indexes, which are directly linked to our customers' opinion, deteriorated," said Tomasz Kopoczyński, LOT deputy president. The carrier saw an 11% increase in the number of passengers traveling long-distance. "We noticed a highest increase in the number of people traveling to the US and Canada. Our other destinations were not so popular as we have to compete with budget airlines, here the increase was only 1%," added Kopoczyński. Official data say that in 2005 LOT carried 43% out of the 10.3 million passengers that used the country's airports. LOT is currently working on its 2006-2010 strategy. (Parkiet, 11-12 February, p. 5) D.W