LOT Polish Airlines and British Airways have strengthened their partnership by increasing frequencies between Heathrow and Gatwick to Poland this summer.
The move is part of the carriers’ plans to ensure they are better equipped to take on Star Alliance rival Lufthansa, which is traditionally strong in Poland.
BA chief executive Bob Ayling said: “BA is committed to strengthening its position in central Europe. This announcement underlines this commitment, increasing frequencies to Poland and opening up access to central European destinations.”
From March 28, BA and LOT will codeshare on Heathrow-Warsaw services for the first time (Travel Weekly October 7 1998).
They will also add three more weekly services to offer 35 a week. BA will operate 14 and LOT 21 of the weekly flights.
At Gatwick, where the carriers have shared codes since August, flights to Gdansk are being increased to thrice weekly from twice a week. BA will operate all flights. However, on the Gatwick-Krakow route, services are being cut to six weekly from eight a week to enable LOT to operate all the flights.
Changes are also expected at Manchester where the carriers codeshare on four weekly services to Warsaw. These will be revealed later in the year.
LOT and BA will further cement their partnership in the summer, when the Polish carrier announces its Oneworld membership. Besides co-operating with Oneworld member BA, LOT also already codeshares with joint Oneworld founder American Airlines. LOT and BA’s plan to start a frequent flyer agreement on codeshare flights at the start of the start of the summer will help to smooth the Polish airline’s integration into the Oneworld alliance.
Later this year, BAis expected to take a stake in LOT once it is partially privatised.