Published: 3/27/1998

Polish national carrier LOT reports that 1997 was again a record year. 2,276,739 passengers were carried, 12% more than in the previous year. Charter flights rose by 86%. The largest operations are still international scheduled flights with 1,713,048 passengers, representing a 7% rise. There were 335,600 domestic passengers, an 8% rise. Cargo operations brought 36% more goods, bringing the total figure to almost 40,000 metric tons. Despite these good results, the company will still suffer losses again. It is expected that in 1997 the loss will reach 45.9million PLN (approx. US$12.5million), which is significantly lower than in 1996. The largest share in company spending are payments for its new planes of 259 million PLN. It is planned to have LOT back to profit in 1998. Financial problems have led to some enforced savings. The company wants to postpone its purchase of a single Boeing 737-300, planned for next year, and two other planes will be transferred to other duties. This gap will be filled with two or three smaller jets with a capacity of 50-70 seats. Planes will support the rationalisation of operations, replacing 737s on destinations where smaller capacities are observed. According to LOT, Canadair, Embraer and Avro are being evaluated. Some of the 737s might need interior modifications to fulfil the increasing needs of LOT's passengers. The large increase of charter operations is partly caused by the economic boom in Poland. Next year should bring up to 75% more passengers, and over 2000 services, which is a strong increase in comparison with the 1150 services made this year. LOT has taken the decision to convert two of its scheduled operations using Boeing 737-400 into charter configuration with 165 seats. These will support two smaller 737-300s, which are already in service. Other even more dramatic changes will be the separation of the charter department into a separate independent company. Initially it will be 100% owned by LOT, but even at this early stage LOT is taking into consideration possible investors purchasing stock to speed up the company's development. The major goal will be an increase in the number of planes in the inventory to increase fleet capacity. LOT on its own cannot commit to new purchases, as it is already in a difficult situation with high payments for its "newest" fleet. Another independent body which may appear next year is CargoLOT. This operation is showing an increase of 40%. Separation of the cargo department has been planned since 1995, but it will be finalised next year. It is also expected that CargoLOT will look for its own specialised planes soon. So far joint operations are kept with Federal Express on the Warsaw-Brussels route, where a single Boeing 727 is operated. Trying to attract more transatlantic passengers LOT has initiated direct connections from the States to Krakow, creating a triangle, Warsaw-New York or Chicago-Krakow-Warsaw. Fighting for passengers, LOT has seized on new initiatives. First of all the TicketOnLine service has been made available early this month. Potential passengers with access to a computer or even a laptop and credit card will be able to plan their trip, and book and purchase their ticket. In the near future the ordered ticket will be delivered to the passenger's home by the carrier. The Voyager frequent flyer programme participants will be specially promoted by this form of purchases. Another new solution is Globloter, the promotion ticket project initiated on 24 October. (MM) (AL398.6)

Article ID: 124