LOT's budget carrier draws on example of Germanwings

Centralwings currently leases two Boeings 737 from LOT and from May next year the airline is to increase its number of aircraft to five. The fleet of the new carrier is serviced at LOT's technical base and its sixteen pilots used to work for LOT. "Our initial capital which we earmarked for the start of our activity amounts to zł.5 million. It is enough for now but should a need arise we will receive the financial support from LOT," declared Centralwings president Piotr Kociołek. He added that by the end of the next year the company plans to fly 800,000 passengers and hopes to post first operational profit in 2007. Centralwings modeled its IT center and its Internet service on the solutions used by German low cost carrier Germanwings. Centralwings will offer flights from Warsaw and Kraków to the Gatwick airport in London and to Hannover. The price of the cheapest ticket is to amount to zł.45 without the airport fees. (Puls Biznesu, p. 11; Parkiet, p .6) E.B.