LOT Polish Airlines

Lot Polish Airlines or LOT is the national airline of Poland, based in Warsaw. ITS Polish name is Polskie Linie Lotnicze, which means 'Polish Airlines' in Polish, while 'LOT' means 'flight'. It operates over 50 routes and is mainly owned by the Polish government. Among the foreign destinations, it covers the entire Europe, Middle East and North America. Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport is its main hub. It is a member of the global Star Alliance.

Lot Polish Airlines also operates cargo flights, apart from the regular passenger ones. It has also entered into a code sharing agreement with the Singapore Airlines, which is also a member of the Star Alliance. The Airlines owns a subsidiary airline known as EoroLOT, which was created in 1997. The low cost Centralwings, formed in 2004, was its other subsidiary, but it terminated operations in April 2009.

History
Lot Polish Airlines was established by the Polish government on 1st January, as a state-owned enterprise, which was privately governed. Its operations started on 2nd January and its first international flight took off to Vienna on 2nd august 1929. The airlines soon opened international routes to Bucharest, Berlin, Athens, Helsinki, Rome, Beirut and other destinations. Its services were suspended during the Second World War, with most of the LOT aircrafts being damaged or detained.

Lot Polish Airlines was recreated in 1945 by the Polish government and it resumed domestic and international operations the following year i.e. in 1946. The airline became a joint stock company in 1992, resulting in its partial privatization, which came into effect in 1999. The polish government still owns around 68% of the company, with Towarzystwo Finansowe Silesia having 25.1% and the employees holding 6.93%.

Destinations Covered
Lot Polish Airlines routes to the whole of Europe covering destinations like France, Germany, Austria, Belarus, Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Russia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey and others. It also covers Canada and U.S in North America besides serving Israel in Asia.

Fleet
Lot Polish Airlines maintains a fleet of 51 aircrafts, which include ATR 42-500, ATR 72-202, Boeing 737-300, Boeing 737-400, Boeing 737-500, Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 787-8, Embraer ERJ 145, Embraer E-170 and Embraer E-175. It has also placed order for nine more aircrafts.

Codeshare Agreements
Lot Polish Airlines has codeshare agreements with Adria Airways(SA), Aeroflot, Aerosvit Airlines, Air Canada(SA), Air One, Alitalia, ANA(SA), Asiana Airlines(SA), Austrian Airlines(SA), Belavia, Blue1(SA), BMI(SA), Brussels Airlines, Bulgaria Air, Croatia Airlines(SA), Cyprus Airways, EL AL, Jat Airways, Lufthansa(SA), Luxair, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Rossiya Airlines, SAS(SA), Singapore Airlines(SA), South African Airways(SA), Spanair(SA), Swiss International Airines(SA), TAP(SA), TAROM, Turkish Airlines(SA), United Airlines(SA) and US Airways(SA). SA means 'Star Alliance' partner.