Polish flag carrier LOT plans to add "at least" two new long-haul routes – probably to Asia – plus several short-haul feeder services to its network in 2016, once European Commission-imposed restrictions on growth are lifted.
"I do not have to hide that our clear preference goes to Asian routes," LOT chief executive Sebastian Mikosz tells Flightglobal. "And of course, the most important part is long-haul Asian routes."
LOT currently operates long-haul services to Beijing, Chicago and New York, The airline is barred from adding to this list until 2016, under restrictions tied to a restructuring programme, but Mikosz intends to finalise new future routes in the coming months.
"On the radar, the most natural markets [are] North America and Asia. We don't plan to grow now [to] South America or Africa, even though they might be interesting markets in the future for us. But I think after the experience we have on the Beijing route, we will be very keen on going to Southeast Asia," he says.
Once selected, the new destinations will be published and put on sale no later than March 2015 and operated from March 2016, says Mikosz.
But to support the two new long-haul routes, the airline must add short-haul destinations: "You need to feed in the back with some European flights. So, one long-haul means roughly 25 to 30 cities of feed." Some of these new destinations will be in Germany and Scandinavia, and the airline is targeting Central Europe, Mikosz indicates.
Additionally, the airline chief confirms that LOT is analysing the potential of "new-style" or "light" long-haul routes of around 6h flight time from its Warsaw base.
Mikosz lists Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as countries with "high potential" for such services from Warsaw, but says the carrier's fleet of Boeing 787s offer "huge" capacity and are too large for these routes.
Instead, the carrier is exploring options for extended-range narrowbodies – such as Airbus A319 and A320s with extra fuel tanks – to operate these routes, says Mikosz.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
