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ARCHIWUM LOT / DEJAN GOSPODAREK
LOT
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A LOT of facts
Over 50 aircraft, more than 100 destinations, and the membership
in the world’s largest airline alliance – Star Alliance. These are present
facts. However, LOT Polish Airlines started in a much more modest way.
� The
pioneering years of civil
aviation were marked by the
operation of numerou private
companies which tried to organize
Polish air transport. The
most important events of that time were
the inauguration of the fi rst airline connection
from Warsaw (1920) and regular
fl ights from Gdańsk to Warsaw and further
to Lvov (1922). Also in 1922 a limited
liability company called „Aerolloyd”
Polish Airlines was established. Later,
the name was changed into “Aerolot”.
In 1925 in Poznań an airplane transportation
enterprise called Aero Sp. z o. o.
[Ltd.] was established.
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38 | LIPIEC JULY / AUGUST / SIERPIEŃ 2010 2010
UNITED
In 1928, The Department of Civil
Air Transportation in the Ministry of
Transportation develops a programme
of fundamental changes to take place
in the Polish air transportation. All
private air transportation companies
were closed. Instead, the government
established on 29 December 1928, one
state self-governed enterprise called
Linje Lotnicze LOT Sp. z o.o.The company
started its operation on 1 January
1929. The range of existing connections
increased and another two were launched:
from Warsaw to Katowice and
Bydgoszcz.
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In May 1929 the company invited applications
for designing LOT’s logo. The
winning project was that of artist Tadeusz
Gronowski who proposed an image of a
stylized crane in fl ight. In the same year
the company’s name was extended to
“Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT”.
The airline also joined the International
Air Transportation Association (IA-
TA). In 1934, LOT received its headquarters
located at the new Warsaw Okęcie
Airfi eld, where later the company built a
modern passenger airport.
After the change of some Polish spelling
rules, in 1938 the company’s name
became Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT (formerly,
Polskie Linje Lotnicze). In May
that year a LOT’s crew operated a first
experimental transatlantic fl ight from the
United States to Poland.
The WWII hampered the development
of the company. As a result, 16 out of 26
airplanes constituting the Polish fl eet were
interned in Romania. Unfortunately,
in the course of war all LOT’s hangars and
airport buildings were destroyed.
FROM SOVIETS TO AMERICANS
In 1945, the pre-war company: Polskie
Linie Lotnicze LOT Sp. z o. o. [Polish
Airlines Ltd.] was re-established under
compulsory state control. LOT’s first
post-war advertising poster depicted airplanes
fl ying over the ruins and the slogan