Warsaw, October 2, 2014 – LOT Polish Airlines continue to boost profits. The cash flow in the company at the end of September is good enough so, at least by the end of October, LOT will not apply for the second tranche of public aid which it should have requested more than a year ago. It was only just after August when the company started to be in the black. Currently, brought profits on the level of a few dozen million PLN.

LOT continues to perform as predicted in the annual financial forecast. This means that by the end of 2014, the airline will reach the result on its core business of ca. PLN 70M in the black. This is consistent with the assumptions of the Restructuring Plan.

“We consistently strive to sustained profitability. At the end of August, we recorded a positive result on the core business on cumulative basis. This means that, following years of loss, it was only within eight months when LOT begin making money on flying. September was a very good month. We succeeded in making profit at the level expected in the budget. Following an initial summary, we know that we are now a few dozen million PLN in black on cumulative basis. Therefore, with the cash flow being better than expected, we are still able to finance the challenging restructuring process ourselves, and still refrain from requesting the public aid. This is why we are postponing our decision on whether to apply to the owner for the payment of the second tranche of aid at least till the end of October – said Sebastian Mikosz, CEO LOT Polish Airlines during the European Forum of New Ideas in Sopot. It is also worth noting that our current financial standing is exclusively the effect of the efforts and consistent actions of the company. No market-related factors, such as jet fuel prices or exchanging rates, have helped us so far, as it was partly the case in the past years” ­Sebastian Mikosz added.

LOT has repeatedly assured that, if the second tranche of aid was requested, it would be certainly much lower than assumed. According to the Restructuring Plan, the company should have received PLN 381M, in August of the past year.

However, in 2013, LOT improved its financial results considerably. The last year was closed with a slight loss on the core business, of PLN 4M only. That result was still by PLN 138M better than assumed in the Restructuring Plan. 2013 was also the first year of many in which LOT recorded a net profit. It amounted PLN 26M.

LOT owes its positive results to continuous transitions. The carrier continues to improve the quality of services, launches new products, extends its portfolio and approaches new passenger groups. The actions include for instance the new LOT Economy Simple tariff introduced on European flights, addressed to those for whom the ticket price is of utmost importance. It allows even 30% cheaper flights. On the other hand, LOT has launched the new LOT Economy Plus class. This solution, however, is addressed to those for whom quality is most important. The business class service is still being improved too.

Also the new philosophy of creating a map of routes, which was introduced this summer, begins to pay off. LOT has increased its transit capacities by as much as over 40%. It means that passengers travelling via Warsaw will be able to change more comfortably on their way to other cities in Poland and destinations in the Central and Eastern Europe. The carrier continues this direction of changes by introducing a flight schedule for the upcoming winter season. Such options are among the reasons why LOT becomes the airline of choice for a growing number of passengers from both Poland and the entire region.

2014 is also the first year in which the “Dreamliner’s effect” fully works. Last year, LOT partially used the legacy fleet. The first Boeing 787 jets started to fly in June, and all long-haul flights have been operated with Dreamliners only from August. Since the beginning of this year, only those state-of-the-art aircrafts make the long-distance fleet. They are popular among the passengers but also bring tangible benefits, such as fuel savings and the like. LOT owns currently six Dreamliners which are used on the regular route map and, according to the Restructuring Plan, they are also hired to other airlines. In winter, the aircrafts will also operate charter flights for two largest tour operators in Poland.

At the end of this July, the European Commission made a positive decision about LOT. The Restructuring Plan was approved and the public aid was found to have been lawfully granted. The restructuring process of the company will formally end at the end of 2015. Until that time, LOT may not open new connections. However, the first (especially long-haul) new flights are due to be announced at the beginning of the next year. At present, details of the new company policy are being worked on.