Making a move on Asia
The president of LOT, Marek Grabarek, announced in Kyoto that LOT will start its first connections to New Delhi in October. A year later, LOT wants to fly to China.
At the beginning, LOT will offer three routes to New Delhi per week. The company will not have to pay Air India for the right to fly to India, meaning the flights could be more economic than competitors'.
If LOT becomes competitive against Lufthansa, and offers more frequent and cheaper flights to Asia than the German airline, Warsaw could become an important stopover airport for travelers to and from Central Europe to Asia. Star Alliance is already considering roping airlines from that region into its structure.
By flying to India, LOT wants to increase the number of seat reservations and maximize capacity. The only intercontinental flights that are now offered by LOT to North America are seasonal. During peak times, planes flying to New York are full but outside the tourist season, results are much worse. The route to India, in turn, is more popular in spring and autumn.
LOT wants to have more passengers this year than in 2004. Last year the growth of airline passengers in Poland was 29 percent. LOT itself had four million travelers.
In the long term, the Polish airline also intends to offer flights to Thailand and Japan.
At the beginning, LOT will offer three routes to New Delhi per week. The company will not have to pay Air India for the right to fly to India, meaning the flights could be more economic than competitors'.
If LOT becomes competitive against Lufthansa, and offers more frequent and cheaper flights to Asia than the German airline, Warsaw could become an important stopover airport for travelers to and from Central Europe to Asia. Star Alliance is already considering roping airlines from that region into its structure.
By flying to India, LOT wants to increase the number of seat reservations and maximize capacity. The only intercontinental flights that are now offered by LOT to North America are seasonal. During peak times, planes flying to New York are full but outside the tourist season, results are much worse. The route to India, in turn, is more popular in spring and autumn.
LOT wants to have more passengers this year than in 2004. Last year the growth of airline passengers in Poland was 29 percent. LOT itself had four million travelers.
In the long term, the Polish airline also intends to offer flights to Thailand and Japan.
