LOT Polish Airlines plans to maintain flights from its hub in Warsaw to Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Skopje this coming winter season, which begins on October 29 and runs until March 30, with services and capacity to be increased on most routes. Although the Polish carrier is popular with transfer passengers flying between North America and the former Yugoslav markets, the airline also expects increased point to point demand. Warsaw was recently crowned Europe’s best destination for 2023 by European Best Destinations in an annual competition which included more than 400 destinations and received over half a million votes from travellers from 178 different countries.
LOT plans to operate 246 flights to Belgrade, up 39.8% on last winter. The airline will maintain twelve weekly flights between the two cities, up from nine weekly rotations. It will offer 27.552 seats each way, up 73.7%. Apart from the increased number of flights, the airline is also upgrading capacity on the route from the predominantly 82-seat Embraer E175 aircraft utilised last winter, to the 112-seat E195 which is scheduled to operate throughout the coming period. LOT will run a total of 192 flights to Zagreb and will offer 18.864 seats each way. This is up 6.6% and 19.6% on last winter respectively. The airline will maintain nine weekly rotations between the two capitals and plans to deploy a mix of E175 and E195 jets on the route, although more flights are scheduled with the larger Embraer jet compared to last year.
The Polish carrier will operate a total of 132 flights to Ljubljana this coming winter, representing an increase of 15.8% on last year. It has put 10.824 seats on sale each way, which is the same as during the 2022/23 winter. Overall, LOT will maintain six weekly flights to the Slovenian capital with all services currently scheduled with the E175 aircraft, whereas last year saw a mix of E170/175/190 and E195 jets. LOT will operate the same number of flights and offer the same capacity to Skopje this winter, with three weekly rotations planned on the E175. In total, the airline will perform 66 flights to the Macedonian capital and has 5.412 seats in each direction on sale. Changes at this early stage, particularly with equipment, remains possible.
Is this the first time they will have now flights and capacity to BEG than ZAG?
ReplyDeleteYes that is correct, this summer they sent the 737 a few times to Belgrade. Bookings must be strong. I think they are profiting from increased US investment in Serbia especially from companies like Rivian which are from Chicago.
DeleteThat's good for loads, but their 737 is awfully uncomfortable compared to their E jets
DeleteWAW is extremely congested so they can't find the necessary slots for additional flights. I guess that's why they are adding flights to Belgrade in winter when there is overall less demand and less flights (especially charters).
DeleteWAW already has 3 aiports. Poland has adanced quite a lot as a nation...
DeleteYes but only one airport matters for LO and that one has next to no available slots. There were plans to purchase land next to it for expansion but it was stopped as one of the local politicians owns it and doesn't want to sell it. Probably lobbied by LO.
DeleteThese plans you mention are just fake news of yours.
DeleteWAW: Full
DeleteWMI: Full
RDO: Not really a Warsaw airport. Far away from the city, in the middle of nowhere. LCJ could just as well be argued to be a Warsaw airport - and people actually live there.
There is a new major airport going to be built, though. They say it's going to open in 2028, but in five years seems unrealistically soon for such a big project.
Good to see them growing
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing that LOT flies to LJU and SKP year round but they still do not fly to ATH.
DeleteNot even seasonally!
Wow that's odd. I mean that they don't fly to ATH.
DeleteA3 has cornered the market. Only FR flies seasonally between the two cities and that is on Warsaw Modlin airport.
DeleteIt's not surprising, the market they could serve is limited. LO can't fly over Russia so Asian market is off limits. They are not competitive for North America because on top of non-stop flights there are TK, OS, LH, LX, BA... who all offer a lot of connections.
DeleteAegean is in Star Alliance so they are working with LH Group as well. LO can't do or offer much in Athens.
and LOT is not in Star Alliance??? haha
DeleteWe are talking about Athens here and their strongest carrier is in Star Allinace as well but their cooperation is with LH Group, not LO. The fact that BEG has more connections to Greece/ATH than WAW says enough.
DeleteSo think before you haha the next time.
Α3 flies double daily to WAW.
DeleteYes and Aegean crushed LO on this route. LOT used to have a strong presence some 15 years ago. Aegean pushed them out of this market instead of cooperating with them like they do with TK, OS, JU, LH, LX....
DeleteLO was flying to Athens last summer, but the flights were subsidisied by Greece. The subsidies from Greek tourism promotion fund ended this year.
DeleteSo ljubljana has more frequency this year and same capacity? Hopefully they will add one more flight per week!
ReplyDeleteI think it's better to start like that because LO is famous for last minute upgrades. The more flights they have the more flexibility they will offer. Like that Slovenes won't have to run to other airport to fly out of.
DeleteWonder if Lufthansa is the reason why LO is not increasing SKP? SKP is on fire right now and passenger numbers are booming.
ReplyDeleteWhat?!
DeleteAnon 09:19
DeleteEveryone is aware of the ExYu blog "fact" that every Star Alliance carrier in Europe does only what LH allows it to...
He is referring to the fact that Lufthansa launched flights to Skopje this spring and asks whether increased competition from Lufthansa might be the reason they are not increasing flights because they are taking away LOTs passengers. I don't see an issue in that question.
DeleteNorth Macedonians usually get angry if you ask such questions. The market itself is not large there and Lufthansa is a force to be reckoned with. It makes sense that many transfers would switch from LO to LH. OS is also extremely strong in SKP and then there is TK that carries a lot of transfers to the US as well.
DeleteLet me tell u that the majority of the people flying with LOT to Skp are polish, they flights at least during the summer are mostly full and there are many polish tourists in Skopje as well as in Ohrid. It is not just the diaspora that use these flights but also tourists.
DeleteAny plans for them to restore their Budapest plans and start those ex-Yu flights they wanted to?
ReplyDeleteNo they don't. I read an interview with someone from BUD airport recently and they said the LOT short haul base was just there because they could not get slots in Warsaw.
DeleteThanks. Pity
DeleteBUD is getting a new CEO so we have to see how they develop it in the coming years. Also don't forget that since LO planned to operate that mini hub things have changed. Now they have JU flying BEG-BUD 17 times per week in summer and 11 times per week in winter. This officially killed any chances of them launching BUD-BEG.
DeleteJust to add, BUD has not managed to reach their 2019 levels. In June they were 9% below their 2019 numbers and that's a very disappointing result. I wouldn't be surprised that this has to do with BEG which became much more competitive since covid. Many from Serbia no longer feel the need to travel from BUD to catch a flight.
DeleteJune 2023
BUD -9.2%
BEG +23.8%
What’s going on at BUD, can anyone with more knowledge about HU comment? The city is big and well-visited, HU is an export-oriented country, there is seriously only 1 airport for the entire country, so where’s the catch?
DeleteMultiple factors in my opinion:
Delete1. extremely high inflation which reduced the amount of disposable income
2. high reliance on foreign investment and many key markets starting with Russia and China are seeing less demand from the EU
3. Britain was a key market for BUD but their economy isn't doing that well. Lot's of tourists aren't coming to Budapest.
4. VIE and BEG as their primary competitors were extremely aggressive in recent months. Not only is OS growing but LCCs are also growing in Vienna. For BEG you already know.
5. In 2019 there was LO with a growing network that is now gone, both long-haul and short-haul.
BUD post-MA was basically a big bubble that had to either burst or deflate. Now we are seeing this deflation process. OTP already overtook them which very few expected it.
BUD is reaching its limits, the ceiling without a national carrier.
And extra govt taxes on flights from budapest. Maybe 10e
DeleteStill KE and LO are flying long-haul.
DeleteAnonymous20:14: Still KE and LO are flying long-haul.
Delete+ Air China (CKG, PEK), and Shanghai Airlines (NGB, PVG)
Yes but all connections with North America was lost while both VIE and BEG expanded.
DeleteAlso we will see how these routes perform to China, I believe they are seasonal. Also many of them rely on cargo, this is something that BUD developed quite nicely.
Anonymous 09:31:
DeleteNorth American connection was lost, because
- LOT shifted it's BUD-JFK flight back to WAW (it was seasonal, 82% loadfactor in 2022. that actually not bad without connecting flights)
- American Airlines sorted out a lot of planes during covid, and Boeing delivers the 787s too slow, so they can not start the less important leasure flights (like PRG, BUD)
I wonder if Air Serbia's new flights to Chicago and Krakow will have any impact on LOT's Belgrade flights? The fact that LOT is increasing ops would mean no or maybe it's away to compete.
ReplyDeleteLOT used to be popular with ex-Yu diaspora at one point. But not anymore.
DeleteWhy?
DeleteI think demand from BEG has increased over the years. Many have more to travel so LO is also profiting from that.
DeleteDidnt you know that LOT has flights from Krakow to Chicago?
DeleteSurprised they can't make Podgorica work with transfers over winter and that it is a seasonal route.
ReplyDeleteLOT is great. It has a lot of American routes.
ReplyDeleteI think they would have success to many EX YU capitals from Krakow too.
ReplyDeleteEspecially as they have perfect planes for that ( E175, E190)
Delete+1
DeleteBut this is not where they have their hub. So I don't see them starting Krakow to ex Yu capitals.
DeleteThey do fly to Istanbul from KRK.
DeleteAnd to NYC and to ORD but unfortunately no ex Yu capital would find its way to top 10 demand from KRK.
DeleteThat's why it's good JU launched this route because they can make it work thanks to transfers.
DeleteKRK with 4.4 mln in 1H23 can make any three weekly route with a small plane work:)
DeleteMy bet is it is mostly o&d, not transfers, which is much better for an airline. KRK has a lot of transfer options and the competition for transfers is fierce. This is why LO flies also directly.
KRK has a lot of transfers from BEG, same with VAR and BUD.
DeleteWhat is the financial situation at LO?
ReplyDeleteThey had $26 million net profit last year.
DeleteTheir profits shame all airlines in Ex Yu
DeleteDo they? JU had a profit of $22 million despite being much, much smaller.
DeleteThat profit for LOT is actually very good! They have to compete with much larger players on a dense LCC market so well done, LOT.
DeleteAnd which European carrier doesn't have to do that? They all do.
DeleteGlad there is more flights connecting the south to the west. Would have been great if LOT used their skills and expertise to invest in the airline of the JUG nations.
ReplyDeleteI would rather prefer ex-yu nations invest and developed their own carriers. Like Serbia did with JU.
ReplyDeleteFlew them yesterday SKP-WAW-BRU. LF on the SKP-WAW leg around 50%. But those late afternoon flights connect to a select number of W. Europe flights.
ReplyDelete