LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) has started wet-leasing capacity from Electra Airways (3E, Sofia) for its Warsaw Chopin-Tel Aviv Ben Gurion from the start of the winter 2025/2026 season, ch-aviation research shows.

"We confirm that LOT Polish Airlines has entered into a cooperation with Electra Airways for an ACMI lease of an Airbus A320 aircraft. The aircraft is based in Tel Aviv and operates our Warsaw-Tel Aviv-Warsaw service daily," a spokesperson for LOT said in a written reply to ch-aviation.

A320-200 LZ-EAH (msn 2930) from the Bulgarian ACMI specialist’s fleet was ferried from Varna to Tel Aviv on October 25, and began commercial operations for the Polish national carrier the following day. It has been plying the route daily since, parking overnight in Tel Aviv. The cooperation is planned to continue throughout the 2026 summer season, the Polish national carrier said.

The 19.1-year-old aircraft with an all-economy configuration of 180 seats and CFM International CFM56 engines, was first delivered to Air Arabia in 2006. It was previously operated by Rossiya, Interjet, and Ultra Air, ch-aviation data shows. The aircraft is owned by Genesis Aircraft Services.

The new ACMI deal comes after LOT suspended its contract with Hello Jets in May. Hello Jets operated the route with a 189-seater B737-800, indicating a decrease in capacity. LOT opted to restart its Tel Aviv operations via wet leases after becoming one of the first airlines to return to the region following the 2024 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire deal. However, the route has been plagued by suspensions over the security situation in the region.

LOT’s in-house narrowbody fleet is an all-Boeing list of eighteen B737-8s and six B737-800s. LZ-EAH is currently its only wet-leased aircraft, but the airline is planning to wet lease a B777-200ER from Privilege Style as of late November.

ch-aviation has also reached out to Electra Airways for comment.