LOT’s Dreamliner aircraft will start serving a direct connection between Kraków and Chicago in July next year. One weekly flight will be offered all year long.
The connection between Kraków and Chicago will be operated by one of LOT’s two new Dreamliners that are expected to join the carrier’s fleet in the middle of next year. The weekly flights will supplement LOT’s offering of daily connections to Chicago that are available with a layover in Warsaw.
“LOT has been trying to win the hearts of new passengers, and especially of the Polish Americans that have always been choosing LOT. We strive to become the preferred airline of all passengers traveling between Poland and the USA. However, in order to achieve that objective, we must guarantee the best product available. Following the announcement of our return to Newark, the launch of a connection between Kraków and Chicago is the best news one can imagine. We know how important this route is for hundreds of thousands of travelers willing to visit their friends and loved ones in the US and in Poland each year. Rest assured that the offering of no other airline will be equally attractive, come next summer” - said Rafał Milczarski, CEO of LOT.
The decision to launch the connection between Kraków and Chicago was made based on detailed analysis of the number of passengers travelling along this route. Data for the past few years indicates that the number of travelers is clearly growing, says LOT.
“The number of passengers traveling between Kraków and Chicago has been growing since 2012 at the average rate of 17 per cent each year. LOT’s strategy clearly indicates that we must not waste such a great potential. Together with the Kraków Airport we have been evaluating, for many months now, the re-launch of the Kraków-Chicago route. Thanks to the new Dreamliners that are to expand our fleet in the middle of next year, introduction of this connection has become feasible. We are glad that good cooperation with the Kraków Airport has enabled us to break this great news together. Our Dreamliners will commence taking off from and landing in Kraków in July of next year, and we do hope that the new connection will turn out to be profitable in the long-term. LOT is not ruling out any further, direct connections originating from the individual regions, provided that specific business assumptions are met,” says Rafal Milczarski.