Poland’s national airline LOT has launched its first flight on a new route connecting Warsaw to Tokyo via the North Pole, avoiding Russian airspace. Flight LOT80 departed Tokyo’s Narita International Airport at 11.22 p.m. local time and landed in Warsaw at 5.33 a.m. local time on Sunday. The route could cut travel time between the Polish and Japanese capitals, which currently stands at over 14 hours, by 90 minutes.
EU aircraft have been banned from Russian airspace since February 2022, meaning longer flight times. LOT spokesman Krzysztof Moczulski says the polar route to Tokyo is the „next step” in the airline’s development and could also open up new connections, such as direct flights to Honolulu, Hawaii. The maiden polar flight was made possible after LOT obtained permission from the Civil Aviation Authority to change its operating certificate and implement guidelines set by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for flying through polar regions. The route could potentially become the main flight path for LOT’s Warsaw-Tokyo service.
