LOT's Q400s operated routes of up to 2 hours and 50 minutes last year.

After retiring the last of its Dash-8-Q400s on January 1st, LOT Polish is now an all-jet operator. It ends ten years of Q400 operations. It comes shortly after Poland's flag carrier welcomed the arrival of its 42nd Embraer jet, with its E170s and E190s replacing its Q400s.

LOT Polish operated 12 Q400s, each in an all-economy, 78-seat configuration. Most were initially used by LOT's regional unit, Eurolot, and were delivered in 2013/2013. They effectively replaced the last of its ATRs.

Following the cessation of Eurolot in 2015, ten Dash 8s entered LOT's fleet that year. According to ch-aviation, a further two (both ex-Flybe and ex-Olympic Air) arrived in 2018.

LOT has gradually been retiring its Q400s. Two left in 2020, six between January and September 2022, and the final four in December and January. Three aircraft (SP-EQI, SP-EQK, SP-EQL) were withdrawn on December 31st or January 1st.

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Flightradar24 shows that SP-EQK's last flight was on New Year's Eve from Prague to Warsaw as LO528, arriving home for the last time for the operator at 14:11. Next was SP-EQI, returning from Berlin to Warsaw as LO390 at 19:58.

Click here for Prague-Warsaw flights.

Finally, it was the turn of 9.4-year-old SP-EQL, whose last LOT flight was on January 1st. Operating LO3836, it arrived in Warsaw from Gdańsk at 12:46, as shown in the image below. It ended LOT's long relationship with turboprops.

Click here for Gdansk-Warsaw flights.

Writing on LinkedIn, Krzysztof Moczulski, LOT's Communications Director, said,

"After 94 years, the era of propellers at LOT Polish has come to an end. Our pilots commenced almost 160.000 takeoffs and top of them have over 3,800 hrs under their belt. Congrats!"

According to Cirium, LOT's Q400s had up to 55 daily flights in 2022 on a network spanning nearly 40 routes, as shown on the map below, although some had very few Q400 flights. More than 7 in 10 services (72%) were domestic.

Fittingly, the most served route last year was the exact one that SP-EQL operated on January 1st: the 185 miles (297km) between Warsaw and Gdańsk. LOT's top 10 Q400 routes in 2022 were as follows. Notice Lublin, just 99 miles (159km) from Warsaw.

Click here for Warsaw-Riga flights.

Examining LOT's (and before that, Eurolot's) longest Q400 routes in the past decade using Cirium information shows that Zielona Góra-Borgas was the longest. It operated last year and covered 858 miles (1,380km). It had a block time to the Bulgarian resort airport of a whopping 2h 50m; it was among the world's longest Q400 routes that year.

Did you ever fly LOT's Q400s? If so, share your experiences in the comments.

Route Development Analyst - James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough and Cranfield, James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. Now writing data-driven analysis for Simple Flying. Based near London, UK.