LOT Growing Route Network from Budapest this Summer

LOT Polish Airlines  will be adding new holiday destinations to its growing flight network from Budapest starting this June. Passengers will be able to fly directly from Hungary to Dubrovnik and Varna. In addition, from, early May the number of frequencies between Budapest and Seoul will be increased to four per week, providing convenient flights schedule for passengers travelling between Hungary and South Korea both for leisure and in business.

Passengers travelling from Budapest can choose new attractive destinations for their summer holidays.

Starting in the first week of June, LOT will start operating to one of the most popular tourist destinations in Croatia – Dubrovnik — and to the popular Black Sea resort of Bulgaria – to Varna. Weekly flights will be operated by Embraers, according to the following schedule:

BUD-DBV 07:00-08:15 Sundays

DBV-BUD 08:55-10:10 Sundays

BUD-VAR 12:30-15:05 Sundays

VAR-BUD 15:45-16:20 Sundays

Flights to Seoul will be operated according to the following schedule:

BUD-ICN  12:25-06:05 (+1), Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays

ICN-BUD  07:40-13:25, Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays

“In a few months, not only will we increase the number of frequencies on the Budapest-New York route to 7 flights per week, we will add another weekly frequency on our first route from Budapest to Asia. Launched in September this year, flights between Budapest and Seoul have been a huge success. Until today, the route have recorded an average load factor of 85%, which is the best evidence that passengers both from South Korea and Hungary recognize the convenience of the just started direct connections offered by LOT,” noted Michał Fijoł, Chief Commercial Officer of LOT Polish Airlines.

Seoul Cycle

Tourism and business potential between Budapest and Seoul is burgeoning. The annual passenger traffic on that route runs to more than 77,000 passengers while the overall annual number of passengers between the CEE region and Seoul exceeds 590,000. The new services will provide Korean passengers with additional opportunities to transfer to selected LOT flights operating out of Budapest: Prague and Warsaw in Summer 2020.

In the coming summer season, LOT also adjusts selected flights’ timelines. Due to the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX jets, LOT had to adjust frequencies on some of its short-haul flights between the end of March through May 26, 2020. Stuttgart, Sofia, Bucharest will be reduced to six flights per week; Brussels – to seven times per week. The flights to Prague and Belgrade will be launched on May 27, 2020. Thus, in the summer season, passengers from Hungary will be able to fly in total to as many as 13 destinations.

“We have been constantly implementing our strategy of dual hub growth: both in Warsaw and in Budapest. At the same time, we continue to adjust our services to meet changing passenger needs,” added Fijoł. “In the summer peak we will be able to offer the full schedule of frequencies on all flights guaranteed by modern Dreamliners and comfortable Embraers. We just have introduced a brand new business lounge at Budapest Airport and I would like to encourage passengers to take advantage of it before their journeys.”

In summer season, the number of flights operated by LOT from the capital of Hungary will total 13 – passengers will fly directly to Warsaw, Krakow, London City (LCY), Bucharest, Brussels, Stuttgart, Prague, Belgrade, Sofia, Dubrovnik and Varna as well as New York City (JFK) and Seoul Incheon (ICN). To operate its newly announced European flights, additional LOT’s Embraer 195s will be permanently based in Budapest. The carrier’s fleet base in Budapest will amount to four short-haul aircraft and two Boeing 787 Dreamliner. LOT has also opened the first Star Alliance Gold business lounge operated by an airline at the Budapest Airport.

The expansion of flights from Budapest is part of the airline’s growth strategy, implemented in early 2016. In the recent three years the airline doubled its fleet size and launched some 70 new routes worldwide. The additional B787-9 Dreamliner that joined the fleet in early November, increased the total number of LOT wide-body aircraft to 15.

In 2018, LOT carried more than 8.9 million passengers aboard its flights, an increase of 2 million over 2017. For 2019, targets were set at 10 million. The Star Alliance member carrier is a fully integrated member of the Miles & More frequent flyer program