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There was a lot of buzz about LOT Polish Airlines officially launching its inaugural flight from Warsaw to Beijing on May 29. The carrier used to fly the route Beijing-Warsaw during old days of communism and then until 1998. But times have changed and the link is back. This time more for strategic, economic and tourism reasons than for political or prestigious ones. The nine-hour flight into the Middle Kingdom constitutes another stage of LOT Polish Airlines strategy „East Meets West" that has been implemented since 2011.
The carrier’s hub in Warsaw is effectively well positioned to handle the growing air traffic between Asia and Western and Eastern Europe. The new flight will be operated in partnership with China flag carrier Air China, on a code-share basis. Thanks to that cooperation, passengers of the Polish airline will be able to benefit from attractive tariffs and connections beyond Beijing – among others, to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Hong Kong.
Opening Beijing was made possible thanks to favourable take-off and landing slots at Beijing airport and also thanks to the approval from Russian authorities to fly over Siberia, opening the door to Europe-Asia’s shortest air corridor. In times of high fuel prices –exacerbated by the use of a high fuel-consuming aircraft Boeing 767-300, this is an extremely positive development.
The use of the Boeing 767 (18 business class seats and 225 Economy class seats) on the Beijing-Warsaw route is only a temporary solution. Until November this year, flights on this route will be operated by the ageing aircraft. After this period of time, LOT will put into service its new flagship aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. “LOT is returning to the fastest developing region of the world – the Far East. The prestige of LOT’s connection to Beijing will then be even higher thanks to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner,” declared Marcin Pirog, LOT CEO. "These are great strengths that will enable us to offer our passengers comfortable and smooth travel to the centre of the World’s newest economic powerhouse”, he added. Flights to Beijing operate three times a week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays out of Warsaw and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays out of Beijing.
LOT has been quieter however on its second Far-East link to Hanoi. The link was opened in 2010. Flights stopped last March, the airline recognizing the difficulty to fill up its three frequencies operated also with a Boeing 767-300. In recent months, many international airlines stop flying to Vietnam due to a lack of passengers demand.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), 48 international airlines have opened air routes to Vietnam. Since April, Jetstar Airways terminated a flight from Australia to Vietnam (Darwin-HCM City – 3 flights a week, as well as Qatar Airways, which stopped four weekly frequencies from Doha as well as Vladivostok Airlines, which stopped flying from Siberia. National carrier Vietnam Airlines also reduced its frequencies on some of its international air routes, dropping a weekly frequency from Hanoi to Frankfurt and Hanoi to Yangon (5 flights instead of 4) while it also reduced its daily HCM City to Phnom Penh from a daily flight to three frequencies per week. The Civil Aviation blames the capacity reduction on sharp air fuel price increases as well as a depressed travel demand from long haul markets.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
