Late last week, Star Alliance member LOT Polish Airlines received permission from the Russian Government to fly over Russian Airspace, specifically over Siberia. This development is welcome news for LOT because it now opens the door for more efficient routes to Far East Asia. LOT has been looking at establishing service to Beijing, China and with the ability to fly over Siberia, this will almost certainly become a reality in 2012.
At this point LOT is waiting for final permission from Chinese Authorities regarding take off and landing slots at Beijing. Initially the route will be flown by their current long haul workhorse, the Boeing 767. I suspect as they begin receiving their inventory of Boeing 787’s, we’ll see important routes such as Warsaw-Beijing be serviced by the new airplanes.
The ability to shorten their routes by flying over Siberia will also improve their efficiencies on current routes such as their flights to Moscow and other Russian Federation destinations.
