LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) has taken delivery of the first of four ex-China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao) B737-800s, the Polish carrier has announced in a press release. SP-LWA (msn 30682) was delivered to Warsaw on May 10 and entered into commercial service on May 13 on the Warsaw-Madrid Barajas route according to FlightRadar 24 ADS-B data. Other initial routes include Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt International, Kyiv Boryspil, Kraków John Paul II International, London Heathrow, Paris CDG, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion and Vienna.
LOT will use the aircraft dry-leased from lessor AerCap and configured with 186 seats to complement its only narrowbodies, three B737-400s. The aircraft will also be used to launch a new 4x weekly Warsaw-Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev service from May 29, a destination previously out of reach for the carrier's B737-400 fleet.
Starting November 2017, LOT plans to add six B737-8 aircraft on order from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) with options for another five of the aircraft.
