LOT Polish Schedules Intra-Europe 787 Dreamliner Flights

As a result of the pent-up demand for leisure travel, and coinciding with the European Union introducing the Green Pass scheme that removes all travel restrictions for vaccinated passengers, LOT Polish Airlines has scheduled Boeing 787 flights from Warsaw to Athens and Heraklion (Crete) in Greece.

LOT Polish has scheduled its Dreamliner aircraft to operate flights to popular holiday destinations in Greece this summer. Photo: Vincenzo Pace – Simple Flying

Wide-body flights to holiday hotspots

LOT Polish Airlines, the flag carrier of Poland, announced yesterday that it would be deploying its Boeing 787 aircraft on routes from its base, Warsaw Chopin Airport, to two Greek destinations: Athens and Heraklion.

The Polish flag carrier is marketing this as a “unique opportunity” for aviation fans to fly a Boeing 787 on a short-haul route. The news comes just one week after Lufthansa announced it would be operating Airbus A350 and Boeing 747 flights from Germany to Spain.

First, to Athens

To Athens, LOT will operate the wide-body aircraft on Sundays only, between 27th June and 3rd October, as follows:

• Flight LO8589 departing Warsaw (WAW) for Athens (ATH) at 15:50 and arriving at 19:30
• Flight LO8590 departing ATH at 21:20 and arriving in WAW at 22:55

This route operates twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays. LOT Polish has scheduled its Boeing 737 MAX 8 for the Thursday flights, so aviation fans are in for a treat on either of the two weekly services.

Interestingly, the route between Warsaw and Athens is also served by LOT Polish’s Star Alliance partner, Aegean Airlines, but the two do not codeshare on each other’s flights even though doing so would greatly maximize the feeding potential of the route for each of them. Aegean flies the route five times weekly.

Aegean Airlines operates flights between Warsaw and both Athens and Heraklion. Photo: Getty Images

Second, to Heraklion (Crete)

To Heraklion, LOT will operate the Dreamliner aircraft only on Sundays as well, between 27th June and 10th October, as follows:

• Flight LO8579 departing WAW at 15:00 to arrive in Hearaklion (HER) at 19:00
• Flight LO8580 departing HER at 20:50 to arrive in WAW at 22:50

LOT Polish flies between Heraklion and Warsaw three times weekly, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The flights on Wednesdays and Fridays are currently scheduled to operate with Boeing 737-800NG and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

LOT Polish and Aegean Airlines compete on this route too, again despite being Star Alliance partners, but they do not codeshare here either.

LOT Polish also has multiple other competitors on this route too: Wizz Air, Ryanair Sun, and charter airlines Corendon Airlines Europe and Enter Air. Between them, they offer as many as 12 weekly flights from Warsaw to Heraklion.

LOT’s Dreamliner will be landing in Athens and Heraklion weekly starting next week. Photo: Getty Images

A growing trend

The European Union’s Green Pass scheme is proving to be a real game-changer in boosting consumer confidence that is much needed in the aviation industry at the moment, with airlines scheduling wide-body capacity on leisure routes within Europe at an unprecedented rate.

Lufthansa is sending an Airbus A350 from Munich to Palma de Mallorca, Air Serbia is operating its A330 on 45-minute flights to Montenegro, and there will be hundreds more short-haul routes in Europe that airlines will deploy wide-body aircraft to.

Will you be flying on LOT Polish’s Boeing 787 flights to Greece? Let us know what you think of airlines scheduling wide-body capacity on short-haul routes this summer in the comments below.

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