Poland’s Flag Carrier: LOT Polish Airlines’ Fleet In 2022

LOT Polish Airlines is one of the oldest airlines in Europe, and indeed the world as a whole, having been founded in December 1928. Based out of its hub at Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW), and with a focus city in Budapest, Hungary (BUD), Poland’s national airline has an interesting variety of commercial aircraft at its disposal.

Boeing jets

According to data from ch-aviation.com, LOT’s fleet currently consists of 76 aircraft. Just under 20% of these are widebodies, with a total of 15 aircraft from Boeing’s 787 ‘Dreamliner family present. Eight are examples of the short-fuselage 787-8 variant, and these twin-aisle jetliners have an average age of 8.5 years old.

They seat 252 passengers across three travel classes, compared to 294 for the carrier’s seven examples of the mid-sized 787-9 variant. These Dreamliners are considerably younger than their short-fuselage counterparts at LOT, with an average age of just 3.9 years old. All 15 examples across both variants are presently active.

LOT also flies narrowbodies from Boeing’s 737 family, with the older variant being its five examples of the 737-800. These twinjets are 16.3 years old on average, compared to just three years old for LOT’s six examples of the new 737 MAX 8. Going forward, the Polish flag carrier plans to receive another 12 of these jets.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Embraer jets

Despite not strictly being a regional airline, more than half of LOT’s current fleet (42 aircraft) consists of planes from Embraer’s popular E-Jet series. Starting off small, the carrier has six E170LRs at its disposal, with 76 seats each and an average age of 17.9 years old. This makes the E170LR the oldest design in the LOT fleet.

Moving up in size, the Polish flag carrier has a single 10.6-year-old E175LR at its disposal, as well as 12 standard E175s with an average age of 13.9 years old. Interestingly, these standard aircraft have 82 seats, whereas the E175LR can accommodate 88 passengers. Historically, LOT has flown three more E175s.

Rather satisfyingly, LOT’s eight Embraer E190 aircraft, which can seat 106 passengers, have an average age of, you’ve guessed it, eight years old. Meanwhile, the carrier also flies seven 118-seat E195s, as well as eight E195LRs. These aircraft are 12.5 and 11.9 years old respectively, and can be found all over Europe.

Photo: LOT Polish Airlines

Turboprops also see representation

While turboprop aircraft make up a smaller part of LOT’s day-to-day operations, they still have an important role to play at the Polish national airline. The carrier presently has eight Dash 8-Q400 aircraft in its fleet with an average age of 10.1 years old, although three are presently listed by ch-aviation as being inactive.

Historically speaking, another four examples of this Canadian-built regional airliner have served LOT Polish Airlines over the years. Those that remain have 78 seats onboard, which is a fairly standard configuration for the type.

What do you make of LOT Polish Airlines’ current fleet? How many of the Polish flag carrier’s aircraft have you flown on? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

Source: ch-aviation.com