116 Taiwanese citizens repatriated from Warsaw by a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787

A total of 116 Taiwanese nationals returned home Sunday morning (7 June) from Warsaw, Poland, via a charter flight (LO7245) operated by a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered SP-LRF, after being stranded in the European country for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was also the first-ever direct passenger flight between Taiwan and Poland, according to the Polish Office in Taipei, the de facto Polish embassy in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic links between the two nations, despite the fact that they signed an air transport agreement in March 2015.

The plane arrived at the Taoyuan International Airport at 06:24 after a 13-hour flight due to a two to three-hour detour because the plane was not allowed to fly over mainland China.

The passengers, mostly students and businessmen, were immediately quarantined for 14 days in accordance with the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC’s) instructions after undergoing initial health checks.

There will be three more such flights to take Taiwanese in Poland home in the near future.

Taoyuan International Airport assigned ground personnel and cleaning staff as early as 02:00 to prepare for the arrival and arranged six buses to take the passengers to designated quarantine centres.

Source: CNA/FocusTaiwan

LOT resumed domestic flights on 1 June, but international travel is still prohibited until 16 June, except for special flights.