LOT Polish Airlines

Is LOT Polish Airlines safe?

Yes, with a mixed recent record. LOT has had no fatal accident for almost 38 years, it is overseen under EU rules, and it carried 11.7 million passengers in 2025. We score it 83, a few points below Lufthansa and Finnair.

The points it loses are recent. Since 2019 investigators in Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania have opened cases into LOT approaches and landings: a go-around where the speed fell close to a stall, a terrain warning on approach to Ljubljana and a slide off a taxiway exit at Vilnius. None hurt anyone. The Warsaw case was crew handling, according to the final report; the other two are still under investigation.

LOT's crash history

LOT's two worst crashes belong to the Soviet-built era, and both started with an engine coming apart. On 14 March 1980 an Il-62 arriving from New York went around at Warsaw over a landing-gear warning; when the crew added power, a turbine disc in engine number 2, weakened by metal fatigue, broke up and severed the tail controls. All 87 people died. On 9 May 1987 another Il-62, flight LO5055 to New York, lost the same engine over Poland. Debris cut the elevator controls and started a fire that the crew did not know was still burning. They turned back towards Warsaw and lost control 6 km from the runway; all 183 people died.

The last fatal accident was a smaller one: on 2 November 1988 an An-24 made an emergency landing in a field near Rzeszów after an engine failed, hit a ditch and caught fire. One person died. LOT has had no deaths since.

The 767 gear-up landing in 2011

On 1 November 2011 a Boeing 767 arriving from Newark as LO16 lost its centre hydraulic system after a hose failed. The gear would not come down, and the backup system did not work either. After more than an hour of holding, with two Polish Air Force F-16s confirming the gear was up, the captain landed on the belly at Warsaw. All 231 people left unhurt.

Poland's investigators found more behind it. The backup gear-extension system had no power because a circuit breaker was open, and the crew did not check it. The breaker sat low on a panel without a guard, where it could be knocked out by accident; aircraft built later had guards fitted at the factory. Investigators also listed LOT not incorporating a Boeing service bulletin (767-32-0162) and weak support from its operations centre. The aircraft was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. That operator finding, and the hull loss, keep the accident score at 88 rather than in the 90s.

Incidents since 2019

The serious incidents of the last decade involve LOT's Embraer E-Jets:

• Warsaw, October 2019. An E195 bounced on landing in gusty wind. The first officer started a go-around without pressing TOGA and pulled the nose up to 32 degrees; the speed fell to 95 knots and the stick shaker fired before the crew recovered at about 1,000 feet. Poland's PKBWL blamed incorrect bounced-landing and go-around procedures, slow monitoring by the captain and the first officer's low experience.
• Ljubljana, October 2024. An E195 failed to capture the ILS and descended below the glide path until the terrain warning called "pull up". The crew climbed and landed on the second approach. Slovenia's investigators rated it a serious incident.
• Vilnius, November 2025. An E170 had trouble slowing after landing and skidded off the paved surface while turning onto a taxiway, damaging its landing gear. Nobody was hurt; Lithuania's investigation may take more than a year.

In July 2026 a 737-8 MAX from Palma diverted to Milan after the captain became incapacitated, and the first officer landed safely, which is how training is meant to work. A 2018 Dash 8 landing at Warsaw with the nose gear stuck halfway ended with the nose on the runway and no injuries.

How old is LOT's fleet?

We could not confirm an average age: LOT's website blocked our requests and it publishes no fleet age we could open. AviationOutlook's 2026 analysis counts about 92 aircraft. Long-haul flights use 15 Boeing 787s. Medium-haul relies on 737-8 MAXs and some 737-800s. The regional fleet is Embraer E170, E175, E190 and E195, the oldest part. In June 2025 LOT placed its first ever Airbus order, 20 A220-100s and 20 A220-300s, with options that could take it to 84, to replace the Embraers from 2027.

Flying LOT: what to know

• Expect long detours east. Russian and Belarusian airspace is closed to LOT, so Asian flights route south, and the Baltic region is one of the areas EASA lists for GPS interference. Crews train for it; it shows up as delays, not as risk.
• Watch for schedule changes on Middle East routes. EASA issued conflict-zone bulletins covering Israel and its neighbours in 2025 and 2026. When they apply, expect cancellations at short notice.

How we scored it

Oversight (90) and the accident record (88) are strong: no deaths since 1988 under EU rules. The fleet (78) mixes new 787s and MAXs with older E-Jets. Incidents (70) cost the most: three serious E-Jet incidents since 2019, one a crew-handling failure according to Poland's final report, the other two still under investigation. Environment scores 80. Overall 83.