Air Polonia

Air Polonia

IATA ICAO Callsign 4P APN AIR POLONIA
Founded	2001
Commenced operations	8 December 2003
Ceased operations	5 December 2004
Operating bases	Gdańsk Katowice Warsaw Wrocław
Fleet size	6
Destinations	28
Headquarters	Warsaw, Poland
Website	airpolonia.com

Air Polonia was the first privately owned low-cost airline in Poland with its headquarters in Warsaw and its largest operations base at Warsaw Frédéric Chopin Airport. On 5 December 2004 Air Polonia ceased operations due to financial difficulties.

History

An Air Polonia Boeing 737-400 taxiing at Malta International Airport, Malta. (2003)

An Air Polonia Let L-410 at Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport, Poland. (2004)

Air Polonia was created in 2001 and quickly gained popularity. It started low-cost operations on 8 December 2003 using its Boeing 737-400s offering flights from Warsaw to Wrocław, London Stansted and Gdańsk, Katowice to London Stansted and Poznań to London Stansted.

Air Polonia's marketing campaigns targeted above all LOT but also non-Polish airlines flying to Poland such as British Airways or other no-frills airlines such as Germanwings. It is also speculated that Air Polonia's growing popularity altered Ryanair's expansion into Poland.

Revival of Air Polonia

In January 2005, it was announced that Air Polonia was planning to resume operations with three Boeing 737-400s, but as of September 2013 it has never happened.

Destinations

Main article: Air Polonia destinations

Air Polonia flew charter and scheduled services across Europe including:

Warsaw-HQ, Gdańsk-base, Katowice-base, Wrocław-base, Poznań, Cologne, Stockholm Arlanda, Stockholm Skavsta, Rome Ciampino, Athens, Beauvais, Brussels, Bydgoszcz, Faro, Frankfurt, London Stansted, Luqa, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Monastir, Palma De Mallorca, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Riga, Seville, Sharm El Sheikh, Szczecin and Tenerife.

Fleet

Air Polonia operated the following aircraft throughout operations:

Air Polonia Fleet before closure

Aircraft	Total	Routes
Boeing 737-300	2	Short-Medium haul
Boeing 737-400	2	Short-Medium haul
Let L-410 UVP-E	2	Domestic
Total	6

Incidents and accidents

Air Polonia had a good safety record which never had any major incidents or accidents throughout their time of operation, from 8 December 2003 to 5 December 2004.

External links

• Official site (Archive)
• Official site (Archive) (Polish)