LOT Polish is an airline that has come an extended over the past few years, especially with their all-787 end of the day fleet (which sure represents an improvement over the 767s they wont to fly).
While the airline has been expanding nicely out of Warsaw, perhaps most interesting has been their expansion out of Budapest. With Hungary’s national airline, MALEV, having gone out of business a few years ago, LOT Polish has stepped in to feature routes out of Budapest within the past few years.
The airline flies year-round from Budapest to any, they only started a year-round Budapest to Seoul Incheon flight, and they’ve flown seasonally from Budapest to Chicago.
The airline did successfully operate the route through this past summer but has now decided to not bring back this route within the summer of 2020.
Interestingly this comes at an equivalent time that American is launching a seasonal Chicago to Budapest flight, as American will fly 4x weekly between Chicago and Budapest with a 787-8 within the summer of 2020.
I’m guessing the route was marginal to start with, which was the nail within the coffin for them.
The flight won’t operate at some point per week in each direction, on the other hand on another day there'll be 2x daily flights. this is often thanks to how they “swap” planes in ny with the Poland flights:
Since the flight operates out of the latest York JFK, they need little or no connecting traffic there. LOT Polish is within the Star Alliance, and United only flies to Newark.
So it looks like the route is going to be entirely hooked into O&D traffic, both between ny and Budapest, also as between ny and therefore the few destinations LOT flies to beyond Budapest.
I’m guessing this was largely motivated by American’s decision to feature seasonal Chicago to Budapest flights next summer.
I’m still skeptical about the viability of 7x weekly ny to Budapest flights, though.
While the airline has been expanding nicely out of Warsaw, perhaps most interesting has been their expansion out of Budapest. With Hungary’s national airline, MALEV, having gone out of business a few years ago, LOT Polish has stepped in to feature routes out of Budapest within the past few years.
The airline flies year-round from Budapest to any, they only started a year-round Budapest to Seoul Incheon flight, and they’ve flown seasonally from Budapest to Chicago.
LOT Polish Cuts Budapest To Chicago Flight
In May 2018, LOT Polish launched 2x weekly flights between Budapest and Chicago. The flight was initially year-round but quickly shifted to being seasonal, as they found demand to be highly seasonal.The airline did successfully operate the route through this past summer but has now decided to not bring back this route within the summer of 2020.
Interestingly this comes at an equivalent time that American is launching a seasonal Chicago to Budapest flight, as American will fly 4x weekly between Chicago and Budapest with a 787-8 within the summer of 2020.
I’m guessing the route was marginal to start with, which was the nail within the coffin for them.
LOT Polish Boosting Budapest To ny Flight
With the reduction to Chicago flying, LOT Polish plans to work 7x weekly flights between Budapest and ny as of April 30, 2020. That’s quite a bold move.The flight won’t operate at some point per week in each direction, on the other hand on another day there'll be 2x daily flights. this is often thanks to how they “swap” planes in ny with the Poland flights:
- There is no westbound flight on Sundays and no eastbound flight on Wednesdays
- There are two westbound flights on Saturdays and two eastbound flights on Thursdays
Since the flight operates out of the latest York JFK, they need little or no connecting traffic there. LOT Polish is within the Star Alliance, and United only flies to Newark.
So it looks like the route is going to be entirely hooked into O&D traffic, both between ny and Budapest, also as between ny and therefore the few destinations LOT flies to beyond Budapest.
Bottom Line
LOT Polish’s Budapest strategy is a stimulating one, and overall it seems to be understood well for them. I assume it’s not surprising to ascertain their decision to drop their Chicago route and instead increase ny service.I’m guessing this was largely motivated by American’s decision to feature seasonal Chicago to Budapest flights next summer.
I’m still skeptical about the viability of 7x weekly ny to Budapest flights, though.
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