LOT Polish Airlines announce a new long-haul connection
Warsaw. LOT will fly from Warsaw Chopin Airport to Tokyo Narita. This is the first direct connection from Poland and Central-Eastern Europe to Japan, and first announced by LOT after successful restructuring process which ends already in 2016. First flight to Tokyo Narita will take off on January 13th. Tickets are already available via lot.com and other channels.
For passengers from Poland, CEE and Japan, Warsaw – Narita 10-hour flight guarantees the most convenient and most efficient travel on this route. At the beginning LOT will operate flights from Warsaw to Tokyo three times a week, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and from Tokyo to Warsaw on Thursday, Saturday and Monday in accordance to the following schedule:
From January till the end of March (winter schedule):
WAW – NRT LO79 15:00 – 09:20+1 (local times)
NRT – WAW LO80 11:05 – 14:40 (local times)
From the end of March till the end of October (summer schedule):
WAW – NRT LO 079 15:20 – 08:45+1 (local times)
NRT – WAW LO 080 10:15 – 14:25 (local times)
This schedule gives to both outbound and inbound passengers short and convenient connections to dozens other destinations in Europe such as Riga, Prague, Budapest, Geneva, Copenhagen, London or Paris.
LOT will be the first new European entrant to Narita for the first time in nearly 8 years. The new route will provide greater convenience for both Japanese and European passengers.
"Thanks to this new connection to Japan LOT’s hub will play even more important role. Already now, our connections ensure the most effective and much shorter transfer times than larger transfer hubs in the Western Europe. This means a measurable benefit for both business and leisure passengers who, choosing LOT, will now fly from Poland or other countries in Europe to Japan in the most comfortable and time efficient way" – said Sebastian Mikosz, CEO of LOT Polish Airlines. “Tokyo is today one of the major Asian business centers and a major tourist destination. Business relations between both countries are growing stronger. An in-depth analysis has shown that the choice of the first long-distance destination was quite obvious” – he added.
All flights will be operated by the most modern aircraft in the world – Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the configuration of three travel classes – LOT Economy, LOT Premium and LOT Business Class.
LOT will introduce several services especially for customers from Asia: the menu will include Japanese cuisine and the in-flight entertainment system will feature movies of Japanese production. The whole in-flight entertainment system will be available in the Japanese version.
About 15 thousand people travelled to Japan from Poland in 2013, which is an increase of about 45% comparing to 2012. 136 thousand people travel from the whole region of the Central and Eastern Europe annually. As many as 41 thousand people arrive from Japan to Poland and 245 thousand to the Central and Eastern Europe every year. At least 2 percent year-over-year increase is forecasted in subsequent years.
Roundtrip travelers include both tourists and a large number of businessmen. About 300 Japanese companies operate in Poland, including over 80 Japanese companies with production lines. Trade value is also significant. Only last year, goods worth 770 million euros were exported from Poland to Japan and goods worth over 1.2 billion euros were exported from Japan to Poland.
Warsaw – Tokyo – Warsaw will be the first connection, which will be inaugurated after the formal completion of LOT restructuring process at the end of 2015.
Asia is the natural direction for LOT long-haul connections. It is confirmed by a success of carriers direct flights to Beijing operated since 2012. Connection to Tokyo will be the second Asian route after Beijing in LOT regular flight network. It shows, among others, that LOT ceased to be an ethnic carrier and became the line of first choice also for Asian clients, including business people who appreciate product quality and service standard on the board of LOT Dreamliner, which is supported by specially trained and carefully selected Elite Fleet staff.
Tickets are on sale in LOT distribution systems with starting price on the following routes:
WAW – NRT – WAW from 522 EUR
RIX – NRT – RIX from 581 EUR
MSQ – NRT – MSQ from 539 EUR
BUD – NRT – BUD from 499 EUR
PRG – NRT – PRG from 491 EUR
GVA – NRT – GVA from 546EUR
LHR – NRT – LHR from 690 EUR
Prices for many other connecting destinations are available at lot.com. Soon next step for LOT will be to announce several new short-haul destinations, for which operations will also start in the beginning of 2016. This will give its passengers even more interesting and convenient travel possibilities.