LOT Polish: Airbus A220 Best Fit For Growing Polish Market

When LOT Polish Airlines ordered 40 Airbus A220s at last year’s Paris Airshow, it was perceived by many – not the least by Embraer – as a political order. Embraer lost a deal almost done to Airbus, but was and still is convinced its E2s would have been the perfect fit. But LOT is adamant that the A220 better matches its future market requirements, the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer said in Berlin at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit. In between panel discussions about fuel shortages and geopolitical unrest, there was an afternoon session on Thursday dedicated to the Airbus A220. Benjamin Peiron, Head of Single Aisle Marketing at Airbus, walked the audience through the benefits and updates of the smallest member of the Airbus family. Cathal Kyle, SVP Marketing of lessor Azorra, also offered insights. The most interesting comments came from Robert Ludera, recently promoted to CCO, discussing in greater detail why the Polish airline selected the A220 last June with an order for 20 A220-100s, 20 A220-300s, plus 44 options. A brief flashback to June 16, 2025. CEO Michal Fijol said during a press conference: “It has been over a year since we started to work on the project of re-fleeting and finding the right partner for the new generation fleet of LOT Polish Airlines. The two companies, Airbus and LOT, frankly speaking, did not know much about each other. Somehow, our paths never crossed. It was not an easy process. We got two very competitive offers, but I am pleased that you wanted us more.” Embraer had expected to win the order, especially after LOT earlier had leased three E195-E2s from Azorra. According to Arjan Meijer, CEO of Commercial Aircraft, the A220 is way too big for the regional network that LOT Polish now operates with 17 E170s and 23 E190s. “When you want a small car for shopping alongside your Mercedes, you don’t buy another Mercedes”, Meijer said in an interview with the author in December. [caption id="attachment_191146" align="aligncenter" width="693"] Airbus A220 reliability[/caption] Right solution In explaining the choice for the A220, Robert Ludera said: “We perceived the aircraft as the right market solution for us. We recognised the economics of the aircraft and the (Pratt & Whitney) engine, the new technology of regional jets. The A220 brings this to a new level. The economics are a key aspect for all airlines.” “Secondly, the capacity matches our market and destinations, not only for the current network but also for our future profile, our future network. We are not buying the aircraft for two or four years, but for a dozen years and more. So we had to look at what our future is at the new airport and the Warsaw hub. It was also important to recognise the range capability, the noise footprint, and the extraordinary comfort for the passengers.” Yes, the A220 is bigger than the E170s and E190s it will replace and even bigger than the E195-E2 it has on lease, but Ludera emphasised that LOT is entering a new phase. “We have not announced the decisions where we will deploy the aircraft, but the A220 gives us new opportunities. Maybe not at the very beginning when we replace and upgauge the existing regional fleet, but later on, it will open up a lot of new destinations on routes of four to five hours. Currently, we have no alternative on these routes to deploy bigger (Boeing MAX) narrowbodies here.” “The right match between supply and demand played a major role in our decision-making. We have observed a huge growth in the Polish air travel market in recent years. Last year, the market grew 15.6 percent year-over-year. This year, we are expecting 12 percent. We need to account for that growth and the new opportunity that comes when the new airport is ready. In the meantime, there will be meaningful growth in existing markets. Warsaw Chopin Airport is constrained by the number of movements. In the interim period, we can only grow by upgauging. The A220 is meant for that.” [caption id="attachment_191144" align="aligncenter" width="756"] LOT Polish Airbus A220 range[/caption] Asked if LOT would not require a smaller regional jet below the A220, Ludera stressed that LOT will continue to operate Embraer E1 and E2 for the next couple of years. “This transition process for 40 firm orders and 44 options will take some years. Of course, ultimately, we will keep raising this question, but when observing the Polish market, we hope it will continue to grow at that rate. If not, we are ready to optimise our short-haul network to keep our business model working. We need feeding, we need frequencies, our local network requires connectivity, so we will make sure we have the right solutions.” Reliability LOT has also looked at the reliability of the aircraft it was buying. Both the E2 and A220 suffer from durability issues with the P&W Geared Turbofan, the Airbus even more than the Embraer. But the airline has full confidence in the updates that Pratt is making on the engines when it comes to installing improved parts and working through the backlog of engines. Benjamin Peiron said that Pratt & Whitney has guaranteed that there will be no aircraft on ground by the end of this year. Engines delivered on A220s from next year (as will be those to LOT) will have a time on wing of five to six years in benign environments. The aircraft itself should get to 99.6 percent operational reliability. “We spent a lot of time with Airbus and Pratt & Whitney to make sure that the product is mature enough. We are not an early bird in terms of the acquisition of this aircraft, but we are convinced that the development Airbus and Pratt are doing is erasing the issues”, said Ludera. LOT also wanted to make sure that it had the right ecosystem in place to support the entry into service and maintenance of the aircraft and engine.

US Flight Planner	Airbus vs Boeing
US Airline Schedule Performance	Daily Production & Deliveries

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Related News

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Related News

Southwest Reports Record Q1 Revenues

Real Green Aviation: Airbus, Delta and DSO

American Airlines Loss Narrows, Q2 Uncertain