LOT Polish Airlines aims to double fleet and traffic by 2020

LOT Polish Airlines announced (22-Jun-2015) its strategic objectives and development plans for the period 2016-2020, with the carrier targeting a doubling its fleet and of passenger traffic to ten million p/a. LOT Polish Airlines plans to base its development on five key elements:

• Long-haul services: The carrier intends to "develop consistently" its long-haul network. LOT Polish Airlines CEO Sebastian Mikosz said: "This will be a driving force of our growth, which will entail the rest of the network. In the long-haul flights area we have the lowest competition in the region";
• Warsaw hub: LOT Polish Airlines will operate as "a hub & spoke carrier, consistently developing its offer of quick and convenient connections via Warsaw";
• Growth: LOT intends to carry ten million passengers p/a by 2020, and increase its annual aircraft movements from 68,000 to over 100,000. The carrier is also planning to increase its route network to "around 75-80 destinations" from 49 at present. LOT will target a market share of 30% in Poland and 10% in "New Europe", in addition to increasing annual revenue to PLN9 billion from less than PLN3.5 billion currently;
• Value chain: LOT Polish Airlines COO Ewa Kołowiecka said: "We want to cooperate and monitor the entire chain more closely. We expect that our suppliers will develop together with us and also raise the level of quality of their services. Only by doing so we can ensure LOT's development in passenger services";
• Committed team: LOT Polish Airlines director Monika Kiełtyka-Michna said: "We have to continue changing as an organisation - this process is already under way but we need a substantial transformation of our corporate culture. We are determined to build a coherent system of staff development to ensure that LOT will become a modern and dynamically growing airline."

Mr Mikosz stated: "We have all the assets to become a regional leader. We already have a strong position in relation to other network carriers in New Europe and access to the largest regional market, which will grow intensively. Our Warsaw hub is perfectly located, efficient and is the largest one in this part of Europe. We are successfully ending our restructuring process, historically we are already the main airline flying from this region to North America, and the 86-year history translates into a relatively high brand recognition. These are just a few arguments that back our position." [more - original PR - English/Polish]