Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Special team of experts chosen by the boards of LOT, Poland’s flag carrier, has recommended the airline to chose Boeing 787 competing with A350 of Airbus. “The team met on July 11th and evaluated materials for the supervisory board. After analysing both offers we have decided to recommend the decision of the management to the supervisory board”, Jerzy Adamski, the secretary of LOT supervisory board said.
The management prepared its recommendation several months ago and delivered it to the team on June 23r. “LOT management in its letter dated April 26th, told us it would not take into consideration Airbus offer any longer and recommend to the supervisory board to choose Boeing 787. We corrected our offer several times but the airline declined to view it. We know that the supervisory board has not made any decision yet so we are ready to negotiate further and submit a competitive offer. We are surprised that no independent specialist has been asked to evaluate proposals”, Edouard Ullom, Airbus deputy CEO said. “We won’t comment on the fleet choice until final decision is made”, Leszek Chorzewski, LOT spokesman said only. “Any data concerning negotiations may be revealed by our client only”, Jesse Verstraete, the spokesman of Boeing in Europe, Middle East and Africa said.
When the supervisory board accepts the recommendation of the management, the order is made. Although the meeting was scheduled on July 12th, because of holiday season of most of the board’s members, the meeting will be delayed until August 2nd. The majority of 10 members of the board must approve of the decision, including three of four representatives of the Treasury and two of three representatives of SairGroup bankruptcy officers. The order is estimated at USD 500m (EUR 410.3m). Planes will be leased. Today, LOT’s fleet consists of three Boeing 767-300, two Boeing 767-200, six 737-400, seven 737-500, six Embraer 170, fourteen Embraer ERJ-145, and thirteen Aerospatiale/Arena.
(USD 1 = EUR 0.821)
Poland/Enterprises/Airlines