Polish airline reveal their strategy for 2020
Not long ago Polish airline LOT we at the verge of calamity, hectically searching for an investor who would come and save them. The company’s financial result indicated a loss running in millions of PLN. LOT certainly had much to worry about.
The company needed to undergo some substantial restructuring and used some government support. They cut some of their staff, cut down flight connections and lost some of their market share.
The decisions the Management Board had to make were difficult, but brought the much anticipated changes. The flight towards disaster got averted and LOT stopped to accrue losses. Now it is time to rebuild the company’s presence in the market.
At the recent Krynica Economic Forum, the president of LOT Rafał Milczarski revealed the company’s bold plans for the upcoming years. The national airline wants to recoup market share, further develop its route network and buy some new machines.
The carrier’s interest moves towards Asia. The airline has recently launched flights to Tokio and is soon to launch flight connection with Seoul. The company wants to attract more business customers. Although Chinese economy is slowing down, foreign investment keeps pouring to Europe. Most customers travel to Asia for business.
Rafał Milczarski stressed the need to build a new centrally-located airport in Poland. The country’s biggest airport, Chopin Airport (known as Okęcie) is about to reach its maximum passenger capacity. The airport reported hosting unprecedented number of passengers this summer. A rumoured location for the new port would be somewhere between Warsaw and Łódź.
LOT is a state-owned company. Currently, around 99 percent of shares in LOT is in the hands of State Treasury. The head of the Ministry of State Treasury Dawid Jackiewicz firmly assured that the airline will stay state-owned. LOT is a Polish brand that is recognizable around the world – he said.
The company’s strategy indicates a 25 percent market share in 2020. LOT wants to service 10 million passengers in four years’ time. It is twice the amount of the number of passengers carried around the world by the Polish airline today. Obviously, the company wants to be continuously profitable.
In order to reach this goal, the air carrier wants to increase their fleet to 70 planes, which would call for additional staff of 1400 people. Next year, the clients will be able to travel on the board of two new 787 Dreamliners.
