LOT POLISH AIRLINES has signed co-operation agreements with three European carriers, while reporting a significant increase in 1994 passenger traffic.
The Polish flag carrier experienced a 13% growth in passengers carried in 1994 - more than double the world average.
The co-operation agreements are with Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and Swissair. LOT this month began code-sharing with Lufthansa on its Warsaw-Berlin route, moving its destination from Berlin's Schonefeld to the larger Tegel Airport, and replacing the ATR 72s which have been operated on the route to date, with Boeing 737s.
The Polish airline began ATR 72 flights from Krakow to Vienna on 17 January in a code sharing deal with Austrian Airlines, which has been operating a Tyrolean Airways Fokker 50 on the route since November.
By the end of March, a joint venture with Swissair on a route between Zurich and Krakow will be under way. Swissair is to fly a Saab 2000 on the route, with an allotted number of seats bought by LOT and sold under a LOT flight number.
LOT marketing manager Krzysztof Ziembinski says that the agreements reflect growing international status for the airline, and further European partnerships are expected to follow.
The long-awaited code-sharing partnership with American Airlines, however, which was to have been finalised on 7 January, remains suspended, pending approval from the US and Polish Governments.
Despite the increase in passenger traffic and an accompanying, less dramatic increase in cargo, profits will nevertheless remain low, mainly because of high payment rates on the company's fleet, which are expected to peak in 1995 and 1996.
Source: Flight International
