LOT Polish Airlines planes can fly over the North Pole. The consent was issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. Flights over this territory will be carried out by Boeing 787-Dreamliner aircraft. The first took off today from Tokyo to Warsaw. The CAA’s decision also includes an increase in the distance to the nearest alternate airport.
LOT’s machines can fly over the North Pole and choose a more economical route with convenient alternate airports. In effect the flight time from Tokyo to Warsaw will be shortened by about an hour and a halfwhich translates into significantly lower fuel consumption and the ability to take more freight.
“The certificate extension also opens the possibility of launching new, previously unavailable connections – e.g. direct flights to Honolulu, Hawaii” – states the state-owned company in a communiqué.
LOT’s Boeing 787-Dreamliner over the North Pole. “Just a Few Airlines”
However, as added, the route has its limitations – the feasibility of the flight depends on the scale levels of the space forecast, which affect satellite navigation systems or radio communications. Preparations for the implementation of overflights over the pole were preceded by several months of work by the team, which had to introduce many activities based on the regulations. Among other things, changes had to be made to all parts of the Operations Manual. It was also necessary to prepare new procedures and documents, train flight dispatchers, pilots and cabin crew members.
“LOT’s planes flew the polar route as early as in the 1980s. It was used by IL-62 machines. “Times, aircraft equipment and regulations have changed and LOT is once again among the few airlines able to perform polar operations. The route over the North Pole is the next step in the development of our company and our presence on the aviation market,” states the state airline.
The company’s spokesman, Krzysztof Moczulski, showed on Twitter the route of the first flight between Tokyo and Warsaw.
LOT has a new president. Michał Fijoł was elected six months after Milczarski’s resignation
Meanwhile, on Friday evening, the supervisory board of LOT Polish Airlines elected a new president of the company. It was Michał Fijoł, who had previously been a member of the management board for commercial matters. Fijoł was elected president six months after the resignation of Rafał Milczarski. The new boss has been associated with the state-owned carrier since January 2016 – first as a board representative for commercial matters, and from March 2017 as a board member for commercial matters. He completed doctoral studies in the field of Economics at the Warsaw School of Economics. As a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service and the Austrian government, he also studied at the University of Osnabrück in Germany and the University of Economics in Vienna. Before joining the PLL LOT team, he worked for international corporations in the areas of digital, marketing and sales.
In December 2022, Rafał Milczarski was dismissed from the position of president of PLL LOT and Polska Grupa Lotnicza (PGL). Since his resignation, the duties of the president of PLL LOT have been performed by the chairman of the supervisory board, Katarzyna Lewandowska. Rafał Milczarski was the president of PLL LOT from January 28, 2016. In 2018, he was appointed president of the Polish Aviation Group.
Source: gazeta.pl
