LOT Polish Airlines says it is expecting to transport 8 million passengers this year. As the company's deputy CEO Michał Fijoł informed during the 6th Aviation Market Congress in Warsaw, forecasts are that Poland's national carrier will serve twice as many travellers as last year.
For LOT, this year's summer holiday season has proved particularly good, with a total of 800 thousand passengers. The company launched regular connections to popular Mediterranean destinations, among others to Greece, Spain, Croatia and Albania. It was also providing charter flights among others to several ports in Turkey. LOT's Dreamliners operated on connections to the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Zanzibar. In the winter tourist season LOT will be flying to Bangkok and Madagascar. Nonetheless, LOT will be closing 2022 at a loss, although this is set to be lower in comparison to last year and the year before. The airline reported net financial loss of over PLN 1.3 billion in 2021.
According to the new report of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) presented at the Aviation Market Congress, air passenger numbers are to recover to pre-pandemic levels in mid-2024.
Aviation expert Adrian Furgalski told Polish Radio that airlines, including Poland's national carrier LOT, are turning to tourist travel, the sector which recovered most quickly after the COVID-19 pandemic. As he said, already in 2020 airlines could relaunch many tourist connections in Europe. The business travel sector was taking more time, but would be generating profits for airlines outside the tourist season, he pointed out.
However, passenger air travel still stood to be affected by the increasing prices of fuel and problems with consumer confidence, as well as the war in Ukraine. Adrian Furgalski said that the impact had been considerably felt by LOT Polish Airlines, for which Ukraine had been a major market.
IATA's report highlighted that all of the countries in Eastern Europe are seen as exposed to the conflict, with the resulting decrease in numbers of travellers to the region.
The report also informed that civil aviation received USD 200 billion in support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: IAR, IATA.org