LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) retired its sole B737-700 on August 12, 2020, following a near five-month-long grounding at Warsaw Chopin airport due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SP-LUA (msn 30651) was ferried from Warsaw, via Reykjavik Keflavik and Toronto Pearson, to Tucson International for storage over the course of August 12-13, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. Its last revenue flight was from Amman Queen Alia on March 17, 2020.
The ex-Blue Air (Romania) aircraft briefly served with LOT between July 2019 and March 2020. It was added to compensate for LOT's grounded B737-8s, of which it operated five prior to their grounding in March 2019. Chief Executive Rafał Milczarski told ch-aviation last year that SP-LUA had been added as part of Boeing's compensation for the grounding of the MAX 8s.
Following the retirement of its B737-400s and the -700, LOT's narrowbody fleet consists of seven B737-800s and the five grounded MAX 8s.
The airline is proceeding with the registration of its sister carrier, LOT Polish Airlines (Mk.II) (Warsaw Chopin), which has now been awarded the ICAO code "HZR". Neither LOT nor its parent Polish Aviation Group - PGL would not comment on the purpose of the new airline other than saying that it would aid corporate restructuring.
Meanwhile, the Polish government has extended pandmeic-related flight bans through at least August 25, 2020. Poland initially suspended all scheduled passenger flights in the country in mid-March but has been gradually relaxing the restrictions since June. The current list, in force since August 12, bans all scheduled passenger flights to 45 countries, including Romania and Luxembourg in the European Union, as well as the United States, Russia, Brazil, Israel, and Singapore among others.
