The national airline reached the end of an era on New Year's Day when it performed its last propeller flight, the simpleflying.com website said.
Until then, LOT used propeller planes right from its inception on December 29, 1928, according to simpleflying.com.
“While the carrier has a long and proud history of operating such planes, this is the first time in its 94-year history that none are active on its routes,” Jake Hardiman wrote in an article posted at simpleflying.com.
He said the historic final flight, from the northern coastal city of Gdańsk to the airline's Warsaw base, lasted 41 minutes and was dutifully marked with a water cannon salute.
The article noted that even with the advent of jetliners, LOT continued to fly propeller planes on its regional routes, but it finally decided to transition to an all-jet fleet.
"The longest routes operated were from Poland to Beauvais and to Croatia," LOT spokesman Krzysztof Moczulski was cited as saying.
Moczulski added, as quoted by simpleflying.com: "Day-to-day operations were domestic and to Central and Eastern Europe. From now on we'll serve these routes with our Embraer regional jets."
According to the website, LOT is undergoing a transition in an effort to face growing demand on its European routes. The transition has seen it favour larger Embraer jet aircraft for regional flights.
Last month, LOT dismissed its chief executive Rafał Milczarski, who also lost his job as CEO of the Polish Aviation Group (PGL), LOT’s parent company.
Milczarski left after six years as CEO of the Polish national carrier.
(mo/gs)
Source: simpleflying.com