LOT Polish Airlines retired its last Embraer E170, registration SP-LDH, on 30 October after a final passenger rotation between Warsaw and Vienna. The departure ended 22 years of E170 operations at the Polish carrier. LOT operated 10 aircraft of the type, which carried 13.8 million passengers and completed nearly 300,000 flights during their service with the airline.
The farewell route echoed the E170’s introduction to LOT. On 17 March 2004, SP-LDA flew from Warsaw to Vienna; LOT was the first airline to introduce the aircraft into commercial service. Its E170 fleet covered more than 230 million kilometres and logged over 455,000 flight hours on domestic and European routes.
LOT configured the aircraft for 70 to 76 passengers. The E170 was also the first aircraft in its fleet to feature winglets and electronic fly-by-wire controls.
The retirement ends LOT’s E170 operations, but not its use of Embraer aircraft. The airline continues to fly the E175, E190, E195 and E195-E2. LOT has described the E170’s departure as part of a gradual move away from the E-Jet family, without specifying a replacement for the type or a schedule for the wider transition.