Polish carrier LOT Polish airlines announced return to India, as the country opens up scheduled international commercial services starting tomorrow. The airline announced launch of Mumbai – its second destination in India. The airline last served Mumbai in February 1982 and operated flights to Delhi from October 1985 to October 1992, before returning in September 2019.
Read: [Analysis] LOT Polish to New Delhi
The second coming was short lived as the pandemic gripped the world. The airline will return to New Delhi with three weekly services starting March 29, 2022. The airline will increase its frequency to five weekly flights starting May 02, 2022, while flights to Mumbai will be launched from May 31, 2022 (Warsaw departure).
The flights to New Delhi operate as below, as per schedule reflecting on the airline’s website
LO071 WAW1825 – 0600 (+1)DEL
LO072 DEL0800 – 1310WAW
Between March 29 and May 01, 2022 – the flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from Warsaw and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from New Delhi. Starting May 02, 2022, the flights will operate on all days except Thursday and Saturday departure from Warsaw and Friday and Sunday departure from New Delhi.
The flights to Mumbai will operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays from Warsaw and Wednesday and Sunday from Mumbai. The timings are
LO075 WAW1540 – 0245 (+1)BOM
LO076 BOM0845 – 1340WAW
The long layover in Mumbai could be due to crew usage reasons since the airline plans to operate only twice a week.
Warsaw Chopin airport handles about 40% of air traffic of Poland and is the largest (by area) and busiest (by movements and passengers) airport in Poland. The airport has one of the shortest connecting times in Europe. As more services resume, Warsaw allows connectivity to North America as well as other countries in Europe.
The airline has 8 787-8 which are configured with 252 seats in three class configuration, while the 7 787-9 are configured with 294 seats.
Bilateral rights
The India – Poland Air Services Agreement (ASA) allows seven flights per week by each side between the two countries. Poland will exhaust its rights when it launches flights to Mumbai with five weekly frequencies to Delhi and twice a week flights to Mumbai. For better frequency management, the airline could look at reducing Delhi to four and increasing Mumbai to three weekly flights. Based on the response, the airline could later consolidate only one market since twice a week does not make a lot of commercial sense in the long run.
NetworkThoughts 