The sky's no longer the limit
By : Robert Wylot
Poland and the United States signed an open-skies accord during President George W. Bush's visit this month that promises to liberalize air traffic between the two countries on Jan. 1, 2004.
The agreement also aims to expand the number of destinations available for Polish and U.S. airlines during the transition period. National carrier LOT Polish Airlines will now be able to serve six cities in the United States, up from two.
Transportation Minister Jerzy Widzyk said liberalization would intensify competition and contribute to a drop in air fares. But industry sources said Polish-U.S. traffic figures will not change any time soon.
LOT, which currently flies to New York and Chicago and has a code-share agreement with American Airlines (AA) to serve 14 other destinations, does not intend to offer new routes in the near future.
"Expanding our cooperation with American Airlines seems more likely than opening new destinations," said Leszek Chorzewski, spokesman for LOT. He said airlines are not eager to expand the Polish-U.S. network because the route has yet to prove profitable.
"Competition in the transatlantic market has been intensive for years, so the prices are low," Chorzewski said, adding that another disincentive for carriers flying the U.S.-Polish market is the low per-passenger earnings. "Too few business travelers fly to Poland," he said. "Most of the traffic is generated by Polish emigrants and, as such, is cheap and not particularly lucrative."
Although LOT and AA are the only carriers operating direct flights from Poland to the United States, other airlines offer connections via their European hubs.
Christopher Zimmer, Lufthansa's representative for Poland, said the accord would not spur competition in the short term. "America is a very competitive area, even now," he said. "The accord will make it even more competitive in future, but it's hard to predict by how much."
Poland is the 19th country to sign an open-skies agreement with the United States.
