INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM LOT: THE POLISH NATIONAL AIRLINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001700030085-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 85
• Publication Date: May 1, 1972
• Content Type: IM

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Secret
Intelligence Memorandum
LOT: The Polish National Airline
CIA
DOCUMENT SERVIS BRANCH
FILE COPY
DO NOT DESTROY
Secret
ER IM 72-85
May 1972
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WARNING
This document contains information affecting the national
defense of the United States, within the meaning of Title
18, sections 793 and 794, of the US Code, as amended.
Its transmission or revelation of its contents to or re-
ceipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
GROUP l
.CLUD[D PNOM AUTOMATIC
DOWNIHAUINO AND
D[CLAIL I-ICATION
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
May 1972
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
LOT: THE POLISH NATIONAL AIRLINE
Introduction
1. On 22 May a six- or seven-man Polish civil aviation delegation
led by Czeslaw Gieraltowski(t) arrives in Washington, D.C., to hold
discussions with US officials. If key problems such as ticket sales and
currency conversion, which have bogged down civil air negotiations between
the United States and other East European Communist countries can be
resolved, these discussions could lead eventually to a US-Polish bilateral
civil air agreement. Such an agreement probably would formalize the current
twice-weekly Pan American Airways (PAA) flights between New York and
Warsaw that began in April 1971 under a unilateral permit from Poland
and would allow reciprocal service by Polskie Linie Lotnicze (LOT), the
Polish national airline. This would make LOT the third Communist airline
with scheduled service over the North Atlantic to New York - the other
two being the USSR's Aeroflot, and Czechoslovakia's CSA. Although New
York would undoubtedly be the initial terminus for any scheduled service
to the United States, LOT could be expected later to seek traffic rights
to inland cities, such as Detroit and Chicago, where large numbers of
Polish-Americans reside.
2. For some time, both PAA and LOT have been interested in service
between New York and Warsaw. PAA's efforts in 1965 and again in 1968
to gain a unilateral Polish permit were unsuccessful, mainly because LOT
was unable to provide a reciprocal service. LOT did test the market by
operating a short-lived service (mid-1967 - 1968) between Warsaw and
Shannon, Ireland, with direct connections to New York via Irish Air Lines.
I. Mr. Gieraltowski is the Director of the International Cooperation Department for
Foreign Countries, Ministry of Transportation. He is about 51 and last visited the United
States in the fall of 1971.
Note: This memorandum was prepared by the Office of Economic Research
and coordinated within the Directorate of Intelligence.
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In early 1971, Poland purchased three IL-62s from the USSR, thus obtaining
an aircraft suitable for trans-Atlantic service. In March 1971, Poland finally
granted PAA a unilateral permit with the comment that reciprocity was
expected. In November 1971, Poland filed an application with the US Civil
Aeronautics Board to operate scheduled and charter flights to the United
States; this application is currently before the Board. During 1971, US
officials emphasized that a formal bilateral civil air agreement would be
the best way for Poland to establish US service, and in March 1972 Poland
requested the now scheduled talks. This memorandum examines LOT's
international operations, aircraft and safety record, as well as Poland's civil
aviation agreements.
LOT's Operations
3. LOT is administered by the Ministry of Transportation, which
is responsible for all civil aviation activities in Poland through its Department
of Civil Aviation and Air Traffic and Airports Administration. LOT was
established as a state airline in 1946(2) with technical and material aid
from the USSR and since then has been Poland's only air carrier. By the
mid-1950s, LOT offered domestic service to major urban centers and
international service linking Warsaw with Moscow and other East European
capitals. International service was subsequently extended to Western Europe,
and by 1965 LOT served most West European capitals with at least weekly
service. Toward the end of the 1960s, following the push by other East
European carriers and Aeroflot, LOT opened limited service to the Middle
East.
4. By 1972, LOT was operating an international route network of
some 17,000 unduplicated miles that offers at least weekly service to 18
non-Communist countries. Its routes extend from Warsaw's newly expanded
Okecie Airport to Madrid in the west, to Helsinski in the north, and to
Beirut in the Middle East. The coverage, number of flights, and type of
aircraft in use on LOT's international service are shown in Table 1.
5. Currently, LOT employs about 3,000 personnel - including 200
pilots (of whom half are qualified in multi-engined aircraft), 400 to 500
technical flight personnel, 1,000 maintenance technicians, and 500
administrative employees. In comparison with otlje: East European
international air carriers (Table 2), LOT's route network is larger than the
2. LOT was formed in 1929 as a privately owned airline. It and other private carriers
handled Poland's civil aviation up to World War 11.
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Bulgarian (Balkan), Hungarian (Malev), and Romanian (Tarom) carriers, but
only half as large as CS;A., Eastern Europe's largest airline. With the exception
of CSA, LOT also offers more weekly international flights to
non-Communist coup tries than any of its East European counterparts. By
Western standards, however, LOT is a very small international carrier. Its
route network and flights per week are smaller than Finland's FINAIR,
one of Western Europe's smallest international carriers. In 1971, for the
first time, LOT's carriage topped one million passengers, of whom more
than one-third were international, as shown in the tabulation below. Since
1969, the airline has increased international carriage by about 50,000
passengers per year.
Thousand Persons
Year
Domestic
International
Total
1965
214
154
368
1969
579
277
856
1970
634
324
958
1971
710
376
1,086
Poland's International Civil Aviation Involvement
o. LOT's international service is authorized by Poland's civil air
arrangements, mostly bilateral agreements, with all Warsaw Pact states,
Yugoslavia, and 26 non-Communist countries (Table 3). In many cases,
bilateral accords were concluded as a basis for future expansion of
international service. Civil air agreements were signed with Tunisia, Senegal,
and Morocco in 1969, for example, and none of these countries is yet
served by LOT.
7. Poland is a member of the Eastern European Airlines "six pool"
agreement, which pools revenues and equipment on air service between
Warsaw Pact countries. Poland is also a member of the International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO) and is a signatory to the International Air
Transit Agreement. LOT is a member of the International Air Transport
Association (IATA).
Aircraft Inventory
8. As with most other East European airlines, all of LOT's aircraft
are of Soviet manufacture. The current inventory consists of 28 turboprop
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and jet aircraft and nine piston types, as shown in the tabulation below.
Half of LOT's international flights are served by jet aircraft - the
medium-range TU-134 jet and two long-range IL-62s.
Type of Aircraft
Number of
Units
IL-14
(piston-type)
9
IL-18
iturhoprop)
8
AN-24
(turboprop)
13
TU-134
(jet)
5
a/
IL-62
(jet)
2
E/
a. Three additional on order.
b. One additional on order, scheduled
for delivery in late 1972 or early 1973.
9. The IL-14s and AN-24s are used almost exclusively in domestic
service. The IL-18, once the backbone of LOT's international service, is
now used mainly for intra-Communist operations.. Moreover, there is some
evidence that two of these aircraft have been transferred to the Polish Air
Force for VIP flights.
10. When the TU-134s were first delivered in 1969, they were quickly
placed into service, mostly on flights to Western Europe. LOT supposedly
made this shift to become more competitive, but prestige probably was
the major motivation. Competition on LOT services to West European
capitals is minimized by a. pool arrangement that divides revenues equally
between LOT and the reciprocal West European airlines. Prestige also
appeared to underlie the introduction of IL-62s early in 1972. This aircraft,
along with the TU-134s, now operates on several major routes, including
Rome, Paris, and Moscow.
Safety Record
11. LOT is known to have had only one fatal crash in recent years,
none in international operations. Since 1967, only three of its planes have
crashed, all on domestic flights, as shown in the tabulation below. The
only known mishap in international service since 1965 occurred on 27
January 1968, when an IL-18 engine exploded on a Warsaw-Rome flight.
Th,.- damaged aircraft landed safely and no injuries were reported.
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Type of
Aircraft
Date of Crash
and Type of Service Remarks
AN-24 11 November 1968: This aircraft skipped
LOT scheduled off the runway at War-
domestic service saw/Okecie airport.
There was landing gear
damage, but no injuries.
AN-24 24 January 1969: The aircraft crashed near
domestic service Wroclaw during a landing
approach. There were no
fatalities but several
injuries.
AF-24 2 April 1969: LOT Seven hours after this
scheduled domes- crash, the Polish Press
tic service be- Agency reported that the
tween Warsaw and aircraft crashed into
Krakow the foothills of the
Tatra mountains near the
village of Podpolice, 25
miles southwest of Kra-
kow. The aircraft was
off course during a
snowstorm. All 51 per-
sons aboard were killed:
a crew of five and 46
passengers, including
five foreigners, two of
whom were US nationals.
12. The Polish Press Agency announced in late April 1969 that the
commission investigating the January 1969 crash attributed it to pilot error
(the same pilot had been involved in a mu-nor accident in 1967). Several
US and foreign aviation specialists in the late 1960s questioned the
capabilities of many of LOT's pilots. However, LOT has undertaken to
upgrade its pilots, emphasizing training in take-off and landing procedures,
and improvement has been noted.
Prospects
1?. LOT's continued acquisition of medium-range and long-range jets
should permit some expansion of service to additional countries in the
Middle East and initiation of flights to sub-Saharan Africa and possibly
South Asia. The most important new service, however, would be one to
New York, which at least would be prestigious and pcssibly profitable.
14. LOT probably will increase the frequency of its services to West
European capitals, hoping to garner some of the expanding tourist traffic
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to Eastern Europe. Tourism has prompted Poland in recent years to
construct several major hotels and to expand its airports, including the major
international terminal Warsaw/Okecie.
Director
of the
International Cooperation Department
for Foreign Countries,
Ministry of Transportation
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LOT Schedule of International Air Service
Spring 1972
Fliqht Flights
Number per Week
Type of Aircraft
Warsaw-Zurich
LO 215
TU-134
Warsaw-Zurich-Madrid
LO 217
TU-134
Warsaw-Geneva-Madrid
LO 219
TU-134
Warsaw-Bucharest
LO 223
IL-18
Warsaw.-East Berlin-Paris
LO 227
IL-18
Warsaw-Prague
LO 229
IL-18
(3 flights)
N
24
(1 fli
ht)
-
A
g
Warsaw-Moscow
LO 231
IL-62
(4 flights)
IL-18
(3 flights)
Warsaw-Amsterdam
LO 233
IL-18
(1 flight)
TU-134
(1 flight)
Warsaw-Copenhagen
LO 237
TU-134
(2 flights)
IL-18
(1 flight)
Warsaw-East Berlin-Brussels
LO 247
IL-18
Warsaw-Budapest
LO 253
IL-18
li
d
n-Amster
am-
Warsaw-East Ber
London
LO 255 2
IL-18
Warsaw-Vienna-Athens
LO 257 2
TU-134
Warsaw-Stockholm-Helsinki
LO 259 2
TU-134
Warsaw-Belgrade
LO 267 3
TU-134
(2 flights)
IL-18
(1 flight)
Warsaw-Frankfurt
LO 271
IL-18
Warsaw-Frankfurt
LO 273
IL-18
Warsaw-Hamburg
LO 275
TU-134
Warsaw-Milan
LO 277
IL-18
Warsaw-Sofia
LO 285
IL-18
Warsaw- (Bucharest) -Beirut
LO 301
TU-134
Warsaw-Istanbul-Cairo
LO 323
IL-18
Warsaw-Nicosia-Cairo
LO 325
IL-18
Warsaw-Paris
LO 327
IL-62
(3 flights)
IL-18
(1 flight)
Warsaw-Leningrad
LO 331
TU-134
Warsaw-Kiev
LO 333
TU-134
Warsaw-Rome
LO 335
TU-134
(1 flight)
IL-62
(1 flight)
IL-18
(1 flight)
Warsaw-London
LO 345
TU-134
Warsaw-Brussels
LO 347
TU-134
Warsaw-Vienna
LO 355
TU-134
Warsaw-Rijeka
LO 363
IL-18
Warsaw-Split
LO 367
IL-18
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Eastern European Airlines:
Scheduled International Air Service
to Non-Communist Countries
Spring 1972
Airline
Route
(Nautical
Miles)
Countries
Served
Flights
per Week
CSA (Czecho-
slovakia)
37,200
34
61
Balkan (Bulgaria)
14,700
22
31
Malev (Hungary)
13,300
20
46
LOT (Poland)
16,900
18
52
Tarom (Romania)
12,400
15
23
Interf lug (East
Germany)
17,500
12
15
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Polish Civil Air Agreements
with Non-Communist Countries and Yugoslavia
Spring 1972
Country
Year
LOT
Service
Afghanistan
1962
Algeria
1965
Austria
1956
x
Belgium
1956
x
Cyprus a/
1970
x
Denmark
1961
x
Egypt b/
1963
x
Finland
1963
x
France
1960
x
Greece
1963
x
Iraq
1961
Italy a/
N.A.
x
Lebanon
1966
x
Luxembourg
1964
Morocco
1969
Netherlands
1960
x
Norway
196
Senegal
1969
Spain
1970
x
Sweden
1956
x
Switzerland
1961
x
Syria
1962
Tunisia
1969
Turkey
1967
x
United Kingdom
1957
x
West Germany c/
1965
x
Yugoslavia
1955
x
a. Provisional agreement.
b. Interairline agreement.
c. Agreement for an exchange of airline services,
not a formal bilateral.
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