WARSAW — Three new B787-9 Dreamliners are scheduled to start operating on LOT’s routes to Toronto as well as Chicago and New York in spring and summer 2018. Tickets for the connections served by the Polish carrier’s new planes are already available for sale.
There are currently eight wide-body B787-8 Dreamliners in LOT’s fleet. Each of them offers 252 seats in three classes: 18 in business, 21 in premium economy and 213 in economy.
The deliveries of the larger 787-9 Dreamliners, carrying 294 passengers (24 in business, 21 in premium economy and 249 in economy class), are expected to start in spring 2018.
Three of LOT’s larger B787s start service in 2018, and the last one joining the fleet in 2019. Three of the four new planes will appear next year on selected long-haul routes out of Warsaw. The new planes will begin operating the Toronto flights starting in July.
“LOT was the first European airline to have introduced the Boeing 787 into its fleet. It was a far-sighted move that has been paying off ever since. Today the Dreamliner is our flagship plane and the pillar of our long-haul fleet. Acquisition of additional, larger versions of the Boeing 787 fits in with the company’s sustainable growth strategy for 2016-2020,” says Rafał Milczarski, LOT CEO.
The Boeing 787-9, similarly to the smaller 787-8 version, will feature lie-flat business class seats laid out in the 2-2-2 configuration. The premium economy class has a 2-3-2 configuration. Economy class seats are 3-3-3 and are equipped with six-way adjustable head- and footrests. All seats will feature an individual In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) screen, a power socket and a USB port.
LOT’s growth strategy assumes that there will be at least 16 wide-body Dreamliner aircraft in the carrier’s fleet by the end of 2020.
According to LOT’s estimates, the number of passengers using the airline each year is expected to exceed 10 million by 2020, meaning that the number of customers will be doubled compared to the 2016 result. From mid-2019, the LOT capital group plans to have a fleet of 75 aircraft at its disposal.
