LOT Polish Airlines expects to receive eleven additional Boeing 737 MAX between 2024 and 2025. Additionally, the Polish airline refunded 450 million zlotys (over 112 million dollars) to the Polish government as part of the repayment program for the aid package received during the pandemic.
The delivery schedule stipulates the arrival of three 737 MAX 8 between March and April 2024, with the remaining eight to be delivered to the Polish airline by the first half of 2025.
Michal Fijol, president of LOT Polish Airlines, stated: «In total, we have orders for 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8 to be delivered in the coming months, that is, by the end of the first half of 2025. Three MAX will appear in the first half of this year, the first of them between March and April. And the following two in the first half of the year, which means we will have them at the peak of summer«.
State aid and 2023 results projection
LOT received 1.800 billion zlotys (450 million dollars) in state aid, which allowed it to remain in operation during the pandemic. Now, the company must repay that amount in annual installments already stipulated.
On December 30, 2020, the company signed a loan agreement with the Polish Development Fund as part of the government program to support Polish airlines, establishing that the first payment of the aid would be due on December 31, 2023.
«On the last day of December, LOT reimbursed the first tranche of public aid for 450 million zlotys. This year we will have to return another tranche and so on for the next few years. The total amounts to 1,800 billion zlotys,» declared Michał Fijoł, president of LOT Polish Airlines, to journalists.
At the end of August last year, then Deputy Minister of State Assets of LOT, Maciej Małecki, revealed that the company estimated one billion zlotys in profits for the 2023 fiscal year.
This data is surprising, considering that the profits obtained during 2022 were just over 113 million zlotys. It is worth noting that the results of 2022 were directly affected by the war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
«We must continue with our careful commercial policy and cost discipline to command results and fulfill our obligations to our owner and lenders,» emphasized Fijol.
Warsaw-Radom Airport
The company will continue to operate from the Warsaw-Radom airport, inaugurated on April 27. LOT was the only airline to operate regular flights from the new airport terminal for several months.
«I announced very clearly that we would operate profitable flights from Radom. That’s why we fly to Rome twice a week and operate holiday flights in cooperation with travel agency partners. We will fly to Varna, Preveza, and Ohrid,» said Fijoł.
