The Polish Ministry of Defence has extended the charter contract covering a pair of LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) E175s for government and VIP transport, industry website Defence24.pl has reported.
The new two-year contract is worth PLN157.6 million zlotys (USD41.8 million) and was signed on December 28, 2018. It covers two Embraer regional jets in 2019 and a single unit of the type through the end of 2020.
State-owned LOT has been chartering two E175s, SP-LIG (msn 17000283) and SP-LIH (msn 17000288), to the Polish air force (Polska Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej) since 2013. The two aircraft have a standard 82-seat cabin installed but are available exclusively for the government. They also sport a special livery. The aircraft are operated by LOT crews with special security clearances.
LOT operates a further ten E175s for its own needs.
The Polish government is in the process of taking the aerial transport of officials in-house. In 2017, it acquired bought three brand new B737-800s, of which one, 0110 (msn 61358) was delivered in a standard configuration for 132 passengers in November 2017. The Boeing unit has yet to commence service for the government as the Ministry of Defence has so far failed to train B737-rated pilots. The aircraft is currently scheduled to enter service during the course of 2019.
The further two units in BBJ configuration for 65 passengers are scheduled to deliver to Warsaw Chopin in the second half of 2020. The aircraft were ferried from Everett to Georgetown, DE for completion last year. They will be subsequently ferried to Bordeaux Mérignac for cabin and security systems installation.
In 2017, the government also bought two Gulfstream V G550s. The business jets entered service in 2018.
