Warsaw, 1 May 2014 – The record interest in the competition for the name of the 6th Dreamliner of LOT Polish Airlines. Today, the “youngest child” of the Polish carrier landed at the Chopin airport in Warsaw. The LOT Polish Airlines fleet was joined by another Boeing 787 with registration numbers SP-LRF and 
a graceful name of Frank. Such name was given by passengers in an Internet contest.

Hundreds of thousands visits to our site, nearly 1,300 entries – it is the result of the online contest for the name for the new Dreamliner of LOT. This year is special for us, full of changes and being the Jubilee Year, because we are celebrating the 85th anniversary. Therefore, on the occasion of receiving our sixth Dreamliner, we organised a contest for the name of the machine numbered SP- LRF. The interest exceeded our wildest expectations. We are pleased that this machine raises so many positive emotions – says Barbara Pijanowska – Kuras, a Press Officer for LOT Polish Airlines.


Internet contest was held in March. The rules were very simple – come up with an interesting name, justify your choice and become a “parent godfather” for the Dreamliner. Ms. Katarzyna Wąchała of Warsaw turned out to be the lucky winner. 
In reward she flew to visit the Boeing factory in Seattle, where these most modern machines in the world are manufactured. Then she returned to Poland with her “baby”. In this way she became the first long-distance passenger on the first cruise of the youngest aircraft in the LOT fleet to Warsaw.

Ms. Kasia invented the name “Franek” (English “Frank”) for the sixth Dreamliner. It was glued to the body of the machine and will fly on it to the end of this year. "The choice was difficult, we wanted the name to arouse positive emotions, to be nice, short, easy to read and pronounce for foreigners, creative, intriguing and… somewhat surprising. 
The choice was influenced by the reasons sent by the author " – explains LOT Press Officer. “The registration number of this aircraft is SP- LRF, so: first – F is for Franek, second – F is a 6th letter of the alphabet and 6th Dreamliner in LOT fleet, third – Franek is the Polish, timeless name, fourth – Franciszek is the name of two aces of the skies: Franciszek Peter and Franciszek Jacha and fifth – it is also the name of Franciszek Żwirko” – as Ms. Kasia wrote in her reasons for the choice.

The contest arouse a lot of interest. The contest website traffic reached 199,393 hits, with 92,709 unique users! There were as much as 1 288 responses. 

Franek – from mid-May will start to fly on a regular long distance connections network of the Polish carrier. The plane with affixed name will be seen at airports in New York, Chicago, Toronto and Beijing. And since the end of October (the beginning of the winter season), Franek may also visit other attractive tourist places in the world, such as: Cuba, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Vietnam, Mexico or Thailand, because during the winter season LOT will perform the long haul charter flights.

Since August last year, when the fleet was joined by the fifth Boeing 787, LOT has been performing all long-distance flights only by Dreamliners. The Polish carrier was the first airline in Europe to operate this most modern world aircraft. Passengers appreciate the change in product quality and comfort of this machine. They want to fly it. Given the company’s financial results and their year-to-year comparison, in 2013, thanks to Dreamliners, LOT gained as much as 95 million Zloty. Business Class (Elite Club), perceived by passengers as the best on transatlantic flights from this part of Europe, has become increasingly popular. LOT’s huge success is also Premium Club, being an intermediate offer between business and economy class. Boeing 787 also provides greater business opportunities with respect to cargo transport. In addition, LOT has saved several million Zloty due to lower fuel consumption, just because from mid-2013 the long-distance flights were performed by Dreamliners. Until the end of 2017 the Polish carrier will have eight Dreamliners: the seventh is planned to be accepted at the turn of 2016 and 2017.

As a reminder, Boeing 787 is a long-haul aircraft (12 000 km) with a maximum cruising speed of 875 km / h, length of 57.72 m and a wingspan of 60.13 m. It has 252 passenger seats. The specially designed interior gives a feeling of spaciousness on board. Windows larger by ca 30% provide an excellent view, an appropriate pressure gives 
a greater sense of comfort, and the higher humidity as well as adequate filters ensure clean and healthy air. Luggage lockers are larger, and LED lighting system imitates daylight and adjusts to the time of the day. The special solution allows to avoid turbulence and motion sickness.

Ticket prices for the roundtrip flight by Dreamliner istart already at PLN 1,799, depending on the direction.