Now regularly three times a week

By Choi Yun-seok
Warsaw, 17 October 2016--LOT Polish airlines’ Dreamliner took off on its first scheduled flight from Warsaw to Seoul. From now on the Polish airlines will operate that route regularly three times a week, offering passengers the most convenient and effective way to travel from Europe to South Korea and back. Seoul is LOT’s third Asian destination and the second one, after Tokyo, that has been launched this year.
The flights between Warsaw and Seoul is operated by the world’s state-of-the-art planes, Boeing 787 Dreamliners, starting on October 17th every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Return flights from Seoul to Warsaw are scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. LOT is the first airlines in the Central and Eastern Europe to connect such a large number of European cities with South Korea.

“Our customers need convenient flights with a good timetable and transfers as short as possible. We respond to that need. Our network of connections now includes almost 60 European destinations and I have good news for the inhabitants of the majority of them: passengers no longer need to transfer at large and crowded hubs of western Europe. They can choose to fly by LOT via Warsaw. Travelling to South Korea has never been that easy and comfortable”- says RafałMilczarski, LOT’s CEO.
“This is already the sixth long haul route in LOT’s network from Chopin Airport and the more such connections, the higher importance of our transfer hub for the whole Central and Eastern Europe. We want to play this role, therefore we are very happy of each new connection of LOT Polish Airlines, that enhances position of Warsaw on the map of major European airports. LOT is a strong and reliable partner and has an energy to grow. I wish you safe flights on the new route from Warsaw to Seoul and of course a large number of passengers” says MariuszSzpikowski, Director of Chopin Airport.
One of the greatest advantages of the direct connection to Seoul will be the maximally short travel time not only from Poland, but also from other countries in the region. Thanks to the convenient timetable LOT enables travel from such cities as Wrocław, Stockholm or Copenhagen with one short and comfortable transfer in Warsaw. For example the transfer time from Vilnius will be just 50 minutes, which makes it possible to save even up to a few hours in comparison with connections offered by other European carriers.
“In that way LOT’s offering best suits passengers travelling on business and it shows in our booking systems. Korean corporations that have invested in Poland over EUR 750m and much more in the entire Central and Eastern Europe, choose LOT’s direct flight because it helps save time, is comfortable and offers top-quality service”- adds RafałMilczarski.

The flight from Warsaw to Seoul takes slightly more than 10 hours. The passengers on the board of LOT’s Dreamliner will have three travel classes at their disposal ? LOT Business Class with flat-bed seats and cuisine resembling that of the best restaurants; LOT Premium Economy Class with larger, individual space and comfortable seats with footrests and thigh support, cocktail tables and extensive menu as well as LOT Economy Class with modern seats and individual on-board entertainment screens as well as USB ports, and also fresh and varied meals served during the flight.

“Opening direct flights always releases the potential in the tourism sector. Thanks to the connection offered by LOT many Poles decide to visit South Korea, even though they had no such plans before. I heartily encourage them to do so, since Seoul deservedly is called a city that never sleeps and the Koreans themselves are called the Italians of Asia”- says LOT’s CEO.

Every year approximately 30 thousand people travel from Poland to South Korea, and from the entire region of the Central and Eastern Europe, over 350 thousand. The forecasts say that these numbers will grow by at least 8 per cent every year in the upcoming years. Thanks to direct flights tourist traffic from South Korea to Poland has grown, too.
“Also visits of the inhabitants of Korea who do not know Poland well decide to visit and get to know us thanks to our offer.We hope that LOT will become the airlines of first choice to Asian customers, including to business people who appreciate the product’s quality and standard of service on board of LOT’s Dreamliners being the responsibility of specially trained and carefully selected dedicated Elite Fleet personnel”- adds RafałMilczarski.
Especially for passengers travelling on the Warsaw-Seoul route LOT has, inter alia, a Korean menu while the on-board entertainment system available in the Korean language version features Korean movies. There will always be a Korean-speaking crew member on board.
Seoul is one of the most important business centers in Asia and the cradle of gigantic, globally known corporations that have been investing in Poland for years. The capital of South Korea is thus a natural destination for LOT, which is clearly backed by economic data as regards the carriage of passengers and cargo alike. Poland is Korea’s largest investment market in the Central and Eastern Europe and the fifth one on the old continent. An impressive figure of USD 825m makes Korea the second Asian investor in Poland, with Japan being the first one. What is more, electronic and multimedia equipment account for as much as 60% of imports from Korea and exports to that country, making the Korean market Poland’s second most important economic partner in Asia, right after China, in terms of trade.
Launching flights to Seoul is a part of the implementation of LOT’s profitable growth strategy. Seoul is the second new long-haul connection after Tokyo opened by LOT this year. Thus the Polish carrier keeps gaining strength on the Asian market and at present offers connections to three most important Asian cities: Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing.
LOT has been developing its other long haul flights as well. Recently it has announced the launch of new connections to two North American destinations: Newark and Los Angeles.
Tickets to Seoul are available for sale through all sales channels, i.e. on the lot.com website, at LOT Contact Centre, LOT Travel offices, and through the agents.

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