By Rachel Lee
The success of flights on the Warsaw-Seoul route was much greater than Polish airline Lot had anticipated, company chief executive Rafal Milczarski said.
At a press briefing to mark the first anniversary of the launch at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul, Oct. 19, he said the airline was convinced from the beginning that the launch of the connection to Seoul was going to hit the "bull's eye."
"It proved us right and it even turned out that the connection has been growing at a faster rate than expected," Milczarski said.
The company launched three direct flights a week between the capitals last October. For Korea, Poland is the fifth-largest investment market in Europe. For Poland, Korea is its second-biggest trading partner in Asia.
According to the airline, until mid-October 2017, 67,000 passengers were carried on the direct flights and the load factor was on average 83 percent.
"As a new player in the Korean market, we opened the winter season last year with three flights per week," Milczarski said. "Just six months later, the number of our flights went up to five a week and we have been working on launching daily flights to Seoul soon."
Thanks to the new connection, between January and May this year the number of passengers traveling from Poland to Korea rose 42 percent on the corresponding period last year, according to the company.
"Economic data shows that for the first time in years, 2017 marked a revival in trade relations between Poland and Korea which clearly demonstrates that further growth of the direct connection is one of the key factors fostering the development of economic and tourist relations between the two countries," Milczarski said.
The success of flights on the Warsaw-Seoul route was much greater than Polish airline Lot had anticipated, company chief executive Rafal Milczarski said.
At a press briefing to mark the first anniversary of the launch at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul, Oct. 19, he said the airline was convinced from the beginning that the launch of the connection to Seoul was going to hit the "bull's eye."
"It proved us right and it even turned out that the connection has been growing at a faster rate than expected," Milczarski said.
The company launched three direct flights a week between the capitals last October. For Korea, Poland is the fifth-largest investment market in Europe. For Poland, Korea is its second-biggest trading partner in Asia.
According to the airline, until mid-October 2017, 67,000 passengers were carried on the direct flights and the load factor was on average 83 percent.
"As a new player in the Korean market, we opened the winter season last year with three flights per week," Milczarski said. "Just six months later, the number of our flights went up to five a week and we have been working on launching daily flights to Seoul soon."
Thanks to the new connection, between January and May this year the number of passengers traveling from Poland to Korea rose 42 percent on the corresponding period last year, according to the company.
"Economic data shows that for the first time in years, 2017 marked a revival in trade relations between Poland and Korea which clearly demonstrates that further growth of the direct connection is one of the key factors fostering the development of economic and tourist relations between the two countries," Milczarski said.
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