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Poland's LOT to Start Low-Cost Airline
Centralwings, a new low-cost airline owned by Poland's national carrier LOT, will start flying to European destinations in February, its president said Tuesday.
Operations are to begin Feb. 1 with two Boeing 737 planes and flights to London's Gatwick airport from Warsaw and Krakow. The airline plans to add flights from Katowice, Poznan and Wroclaw in May.
Other destinations will include Hanover and Nuremberg, Germany; the Czech capital, Prague; Lisbon, Portugal; Gerona, Spain; and the Italian cities of Rome, Bologna and Catania.
"We want to be a cheap, secure and friendly airline for people who want to see the world," Centralwings president Piotr Kociolek told a news conference. "We want to win a significant position on the European market."
Tickets will start at 45 zlotys (US$14; euro10), excluding airport fees. Centralwings will share its Internet booking system and business philosophy with the German budget carrier Germanwings, Kociolek said.
With initial capital of 5 million zlotys (US$1.6 million; euro1.2 million), Warsaw-based Centralwings expects to fly some 800,000 passengers next year and break even in 2007.
Poland's first private budget airline, Air Polonia, suspended flights this month pending possible bankruptcy.
LOT, like many other established airlines, has been hit by rising oil prices and tough competition from a slew of new low-cost carriers.
Source: http://www.forbes.com
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