Sebastian Mikosz, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin), says the carrier would consider going public should it fail in its attempts to secure a suitable strategic partner.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mikosz said government, LOT's 99% shareholder, is serious about offloading the carrier into private hands. As such, management has already engaged in talks with operators and private equity groups.
“We are actively working on getting private money,” he said. “We could also have private equity ...it can be anyone.”
To facilitate the airline's eventual privatization, Warsaw amended legislation in 2013 that capped private investment in LOT at 49%. Thereafter it enlisted Rothschild to help locate a suitable investor for the airline.
Partnering a larger carrier would allow the airline to free itself from the shackles of state-ownership which brings with it the problem of political interference. According to Mikosz, while state-sponsorship has allowed his airline to stay afloat through tough times, the relatively meagre funding has not allowed it to fully grow and thus tap its full potential.
LOT has reportedly been courted by a number of carriers said to include Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International), Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel), Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport), and Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) though none of the talks has lead to anything concrete.
Following a turbulent last seven years, the Polish national carrier has managed to cut costs and revitalize its business model posting a EUR24 million (USD27.1 million) operating profit for 2014.
