Eurolot


Eurolot S.A. was a Polish regional airline based in Warsaw. Apart from its own flights under the eurolot.com brand, it operated short-haul flights for LOT Polish Airlines, as well as ad-hoc charter flights. Its main base was Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport, whilst its own flights centre on its hubs at John Paul II Kraków Airport and Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport. The airline had its head office in the LOT Polish Airlines headquarters in Warsaw. Eurolot ended operations on 31 March 2015. The company slogan was Zawsze z klasą, Always classy.

History

Early years

EuroLOT was established on 19 December 1996 and commenced regular air operations on 1 July 1997. Initially, EuroLOT operated as an air carrier with its own network of connections. At that time EuroLOT's fleet was made up of turboprop aircraft: 5 owned ATR 42-300 and 8 ATR 72-202 leased from LOT together with aircrew. Between 1998 and 2000 EuroLOT also operated two 18-seat BAe Jetstream 31 aircraft. The primary task of EuroLOT was to reconstruct the network of domestic and regional flights while reducing operational costs and to create new value in the field of domestic air transport.
In 2000 the company ceased to be an independent carrier and became an operator. In the same year, EuroLOT took over all ATR aircraft from LOT. In 2002 EuroLOT began to modernize its fleet by replacing ATR 42-300 with newer ATR 42-500. As of March 2007, it had 278 employees.

Later development

Established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, its current main shareholder is the State Treasury with 62.1% of shares, while Towarzystwo Finansowe Silesia is the minority shareholder with 37.9% shares. During the 2011 summer season, after the State Treasury acquired the majority of its shares, the airline started flying Polish regional routes under the eurolot.com brand, in addition to operating flights for LOT. Starting in December 2011, Eurolot introduced flights from Gdańsk and Warsaw to Poprad, Slovakia in addition to expanding rapidly in the domestic market.
In 2012, Eurolot placed an order for 8 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft to replace the old ATR fleet. In 2014 Eurolot considered the wet-lease of a LOT Boeing 787 Dreamliner for services to South East Asia as part of a larger LOT restructuring. However, this plan did not materialise.
On 6 February 2015, it was announced that the company would be liquidated due to financial problems and end operations on 31 March 2015. LOT Polish Airlines assumed some of Eurolot's routes, re-leasing former Eurolot aircraft.

Codeshare agreements

Eurolot had codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of July 2014:

Destinations

Eurolot served the following destinations as of September 2014:
†Hub
*Operated by Eurolot for LOT Polish Airlines
*Served by Eurolot and LOT Polish Airlines

CityCountryIATAICAOAirportRefCommencedEnd
AmsterdamAMSEHAMAmsterdam Airport Schiphol *-31 March 2015
BeauvaisBVALFOBBeauvais–Tillé Airport *09/201331 March 2015
BrusselsBRUEBBRBrussels Airport *04/201431 March 2015
BydgoszczBZGEPBYBydgoszcz Ignacy Jan Paderewski Airport31 March 2015
ChișinăuKIVLUKKChișinău International Airport *26 October 201431 March 2015
DubrovnikDBVLDDUDubrovnik Airport *-31 March 2015
DüsseldorfFRAEDDFDüsseldorf Airport *26 October 201431 March 2015
FrankfurtFRAEDDFFrankfurt Airport *-31 March 2015
GdańskGDNEPGDGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport † *-31 March 2015
HelsinkiHELEFHKHelsinki Airport-31 March 2015
HeringsdorfHDFEDAHHeringsdorf Airport *-31 March 2015
KatowiceKTWEPKTKatowice International Airport *-31 March 2015
KrakówKRKEPKKJohn Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice † *-31 March 2015
LublinLUZEPLBLublin Airport *-31 March 2015
MilanMXPLIMCMalpensa Airport *28 February 201431 March 2015
MunichMUCEDDMMunich Airport *-31 March 2015
ParisCDGEHAMCharles de Gaulle Airport *-31 March 2015
PoznańPOZEPPOPoznań-Ławica Airport *-31 March 2015
RigaRIXEVRARiga International Airport *-31 March 2015
RomeFCOLIRFLeonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport *09/201331 March 2015
RzeszówRZEEPRZRzeszów-Jasionka Airport *-31 March 2015
SalzburgSZGLOWSSalzburg Airport *-31 March 2015
SplitSPULDSPSplit Airport *-31 March 2015
StuttgartSTREDDSStuttgart Airport *26 October 201431 March 2015
SzczecinSZZEPSCSzczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport *-31 March 2015
TallinnTLLEETLTallinn Airport *-31 March 2015
ViennaVIELOWWVienna International Airport *-31 March 2015
VilniusVNOEYVIVilnius International Airport *-31 March 2015
WarsawWAWEPWAWarsaw Frédéric Chopin Airport *199731 March 2015
WrocławWROEPWRCopernicus Airport Wrocław *-31 March 2015
ZadarZADLDZDZadar Airport *-31 March 2015
ZagrebZAGLDZAZagreb Airport *26 October 201431 March 2015
ZürichZRHLSZHZürich Airport *-31 March 2015

Fleet

As of November 2014, the Eurolot fleet consisted of the following aircraft with an average age of 2.3 years for the Q400's:

AircraftIn ServiceOrdersOptionsPassengersNotes
Bombardier Q4001136786 served LOT routes. Were transferred to LOT.
6 out of 12 options were converted into firm orders