LOT Polish Airlines launches flights between London City and Vilnius

From today, one of LOT’s newly acquired Embraer 190s will operate between Vilnius and London City, linking the Lithuanian capital city with London’s most central airport for the very first time. 

To mark the occasion, Lithuanian youth players from the local Newham All-Stars basketball team attended the airport to welcome the inaugural flight.

Flights will operate up to twice a day, becoming the third successive route that LOT has commenced at London City in the space of four months, following on from Warsaw and Budapest.

LOT offers 12 flights between Vilnius and London City per week (two flights a day, from Monday to Friday, and one flight on Saturdays and Sundays), according to the following schedule:

VNO-LCY LO271  06:30 – 07:30 Mon to Sat
LCY-VNO LO272  09:35 – 14:35 Mon to Sat
VNO-LCY LO273  16:55 – 17:55 Mon to Fri, Sun
LCY-VNO LO274  18:40 – 23:40 Mon to Fri, Sun

London City Airport (LCY) is known for its speed, convenience and efficiency, offering unrivalled service from its location in the Royal Docks, just 13 minutes from Canary Wharf, 21 minutes from London Bridge, and 21 minutes from Bank. It means arriving passengers can reach central London, tourist hot spots, business districts, and fast-growing areas of East London quickly and easily.

LOT was selected by the Lithuanian Government to operate the route as public service obligation (PSO) service, with the Lithuanian authorities specifically choosing London City Airport to link the two cities.

– Vilnius is the third destination in CEE launched this year by LOT Polish Airlines from London City Airport, after Budapest and Warsaw. We believe that many Lithuanian passengers will appreciate this service since this is the only connection from Vilnius to the heart of London, so close to the business centre of UK’s capital as well as all tourist attractions. Also, many London based passengers now have the most convenient connection to the capital of Lithuania. Our nearly double daily schedule is perfectly suited to the needs of customers travelling for business, but given the fact that many Lithuanians live in the eastern parts of London, this is a great connection also for the leisure passengers. We are very excited to start operations on this route – says Adrian Kubicki, Director of LOT Corporate Communications.

– This new Vilnius service is the first time London City has ever had a Lithuanian link and indicates our desire to better serve more parts of Europe and key cities, to and from the heart of London. We are hugely grateful to the Lithuanian government for encouraging this London-Vilnius connection and specifically choosing London’s most central airport – better connecting businesses and tourists between the two capital cities up to 12 times a week. The route also symbolises London City’s ambitions to cater for the whole of London, our communities, and the East End. With a large Lithuanian population here in Newham and nearby boroughs, this route will bring together visiting friends and relatives much more easily – says Peter Downes, Aviation Director at London City Airport.

The new Vilnius-London City service will not only be for business. East London has the highest population of Lithuanian-born people than anywhere in the UK, with the majority of the capital’s Lithuanian population in boroughs such as Newham, Barking & Dagenham and Waltham Forest, on the doorstep of London City Airport.

Already today, LOT has the most extensive offer for passengers travelling from and to Vilnius among traditional airway carriers. In addition to the new connection between the capital city of Lithuania and London City, the carrier offers connections between Vilnius and Warsaw five times a day, to Kaunas and to Palanga six times a week.

Due to a short runway and steep 5.5? landing approach and take off angle at London City (LCY), LOT has specifically invested in the compatible Embraer 190 aircraft, certified to fly from the airport. The Polish carrier has leased out four new Embraers 190 from NAC. The aircraft offers 106 convenient seats and were delivered in the second half of December 2018 directly from the manufacturer’s plant in Brazil.

The flight schedules for Warsaw, Vilnius, and Budapest allow passengers to fly to and back again on the same day, without the need to stay the night in London, making it a particularly compelling option for business passengers.

The carrier offers 111 scheduled connections and a total of over 80 planes in its fleet, and this number will continue to grow. By the end of 2019, the fleet will be extended by four subsequent wide-body B787 Dreamliners and, as a result, the number of these aeroplanes will increase from 12 to 15.

LOT Polish Airlines carried 8.9 million passengers in 2018. This result is by almost 30 percent better y/y, in accordance with the company’s strategy of 2017. In 2017, 6.8 million travellers used services of the Polish national carrier. In 2019, LOT Polish Airlines plans to cross the barrier of 10 million travellers, annually.

In 2018, London City Airport welcomed a record-breaking 4.8 million passengers and is currently transforming its facilities through a £500 million development programme.

Tickets for flights from, among others, Vilnius to London City can be purchased by all sales channels, including lot.com, via LOT Contact Center, and from agents.