Foundation Anniversary: LOT Polish Airlines — December 29, 1928

LOT Polish Airlines was established on 29 December 1928 in Warsaw as the state-and-local-government enterprise Linje Lotnicze LOT sp. z o.o., formed under a programme prepared by the Department of Civil Aviation of the Polish Ministry of Communications through the merger of the private carriers Aerolot, Aero, and Śląskie Towarzystwo Lotnicze. On 1 January 1929, the carrier inaugurated regular scheduled flights linking Warsaw with Katowice and Bydgoszcz, carrying 16,428 passengers during its first year of operation.

A note on this date. Polish historical sources record two December 1928 dates for the establishment of Linje Lotnicze LOT sp. z o.o. (29 December 1928 in dispatches of the Polish Press Agency and Telewizja Polska, and 27 December 1928 in the calendar of the Polish History Museum in Warsaw), while scheduled flight operations began on 1 January 1929, which some international directories list as the founding year. This anniversary follows 29 December 1928 and states all three dates. We publish it with the warning rather than leave the page out, and if you can point us to a register or an archive that carries it we will confirm or correct it.

Dates verified on Polish Press Agency (PAP) via DlaPilota, Polish Television (TVP Polonia) and Polish History Museum in Warsaw.