LOT Polish Airlines will suspend four routes during its winter timetable and reduce frequencies elsewhere as higher jet fuel costs put pressure on profitability.
The suspensions affect Warsaw–Bologna and services from Kraków to Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, according to Poland’s PAP news agency. LOT plans to restore the routes in early April.
Airline spokesman Krzysztof Moczulski said the network review considered several factors, with fuel prices among the most significant. Fuel now accounts for up to 40% of LOT’s operating costs, compared with approximately 25% in February, he said.
Strong competition has limited the airline’s ability to recover the additional expense through higher fares. LOT did not identify the other routes facing frequency reductions in the report.
The cuts come amid elevated fuel prices following disruption to oil and refined-product shipments through the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israeli war against Iran. According to IATA data cited in the report, global jet fuel prices in mid-October were nearly 114% higher than a year earlier.
Source: TCP World