First Boeing 737-800 NG lands in Warsaw, joins LOT fleet

The first Boeing 737-800 NG landed at the Warsaw Chopin Airport and joined the fleet of the LOT Polish Airlines. By the end of June LOT will have had four aircrafts of that type. Boeing 737-800 NG is the largest narrow-body aircraft in LOT’s fleet and beginning in May will be used to operate flights on the most popular routes, including to London, Tel Aviv, Frankfurt, Madrid as well as Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, being a new destination to which direct flights will be launched on 29 May. 

The first Boeing 737-800 NG has landed at the Warsaw Chopin Airport. Before it takes off for its first flight with LOT, a series of operating tests will be performed and its pilots and crew will undergo the last training. Flights on LOT’s most popular routes will be operated by new Boeing 737-800 NGs starting from mid-May, including the flights from Warsaw to London, Madrid, Tel-Aviv and the new connection to Astana. 

Boeing 737-800 NG is a modern narrow-body aircraft with the capacity of up to 186 passengers, i.e. nearly 20 passengers more than Boeing 737 Classic aircraft currently used by LOT. Thanks to the larger aircraft to be used on LOT’s most popular routes, the airlines will be even more competitive and more attractive, better suiting the passengers’ needs. 

Boeing 737-800 NG has next generation slim seats which the airlines had also installed in Boeing B737 Classic following the retrofit. There are three travel classes available aboard the aircraft: LOT Business, LOT Premium Economy and LOT Economy, with each class tailored to LOT passengers’ individual requirements.

“It is a historic moment and the first new aircraft of the 737 family to join our fleet after more than 20 years. In that way we prove that our profitable growth strategy has soon become a fact. The delivery of Boeing 737-800 NG marks the launch of an ambitious program of our fleet development. This year alone we are going to operate four Boeing 737-800 NGs, two brand new Dreamliner B787-8s and two next generation narrow-body Boeing 737 MAX 8s. Next year at least three larger Dreamliner 787-9s will be added to our fleet,” says Adrian Kubicki, Director of Corporate Communications. 

In mid-May LOT’s Boeing 737-800 NGs will begin to fly regularly on the Warsaw-London route. Then also in May flights to Paris will be operated by that aircraft. In June a larger 737 family aircraft will start to operate flights to Madrid and Tel Aviv and starting from July to Barcelona and Frankfurt. By the end of the month Boeing 737-800 NG will have inaugurated LOT’s new connection to Astana. 

“Thanks to new aircraft we will be able develop on our existing routes, including to considerably increase the capacity on our most popular flights, for example, to London or Tel-Aviv. In that way we will also expand our operations to include new destinations which have not been accessible to-date, such as Kazakhstan,” adds Kubicki.

Apart from Boeing 737-800 NGs, in November 2017 also state-of-the-art narrow-body Boeing 737 MAX 8s are going to be added to LOT’s fleet. In total LOT ordered six such aircrafts with the option of leasing five more. Also this year two new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners will be added to LOT’s fleet to be operated on new flights to Newark and Los Angeles. By the end of 2018 three new 787-9 Dreamliners will be added to LOT’s fleet as well. In total in 2018 LOT’s fleet will comprise at least 51 airplanes. 

Ordering new narrow-body aircraft is part of LOT’s profitable growth strategy that the Polish carrier have been implementing since the early 2016. In total LOT already offers 77 connections and plans to launch more, both to European destinations and the long-haul ones.