LOT Polish Airlines started service to New York in 1973 using the Ilyushin IL-62. Check out those paintings. Photo from LOT.
Hopefully the title of this story makes total sense to you already. What the heck does LOT Polish Airlines celebrating 40 years of flying from Warsaw (WAW) to New York (JFK) have to do with James Bond? Oh just wait.
It was a big step for LOT to start their Warsaw to New York flights in 1973 using the Ilyushin IL-62. “Taking into consideration Poland’s political situation at that time, the launching of airline operations to the US in 1973 should be recognized as a breakthrough in Poland’s relations with the West,” said Sebastian Mikosz, President of LOT Polish Airlines. “We are proud of such a long tradition of this flight, being the most popular among our passengers. Thanks to the well timed and plentiful connections, our North Atlantic flights also generate a big flow of traffic via our Warsaw hub.”
A LOT Il-62. Photo by Serendigity / Flickr.
Initially, the flight should have been numbered “LO 001” and “LO 002,” but to celebrate the fact that the eighth James Bond movie, Live and Let Die, was playing in theaters, the airline decided to name the flights “LO 006” and “LO 007.” The flight numbers remain the same today.
LOT was set to start Boeing 787 Dreamliners on their New York flights, but those plans did not go so well with the grounding of the aircraft. The airline is currently flying one of their 767-300s on the flight. LOT is expecting to put the Dreamliner on their JFK route sometime in July of this year, after they receive their third aircraft from Boeing. [Side note: LOT will start 787 operations on June 5th to Chicago and on June 7th to Toronto]
A LOT Boeing 787 Dreamliner taking off from Paine Field. Image from LOT.
In 2012, LOT carried nearly 105,000 passengers on the WAW-JFK flight, which is up 4% in comparison with the preceding year. The load factor in the period between January – December 2012 was 88%, up 6% in relation to the same period in 2011.
The airline has had to weather quite a bit over the years, but hopefully, like James Bond, they will keep on going.
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This story written by… David Parker Brown, Editor & Founder.
David started AirlineReporter.com in the summer of 2008, but has had a passion for aviation since he was a kid. Born and raised in the Seattle area (where he is currently based) has surely had an influence and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else in the world. |
Having just been there, I can say Warsaw is amazing. Can’t wait to go back.
What’s there to celebrate, the airline is making losses and it’s afloat only thanks to state subsidies. Anyone who flew with them on a regular basis will know the poor service, the poor food and mostly, the largly outdated fleet.
This is exactly why this is a huge turning point for the airline with the Boeing 787. The grounding was not good for any airline, but especially LOT.
Soon, they will be flying their Dreamliners to routes to the US, improving their product.
David
Here you go today LOT Dreamliner just landed in NY JFK ,GO LOT ,GO 787
Here you go today LOT Dreamliner just landed in NY JFK ,GO LOT ,GO 787
Antoni P olaku nie marudz wy tylko to P otraficie.