LOT Polish Airlines just received a new Boeing 737 MAX plane – its first MAX delivery since the aircraft’s grounding in 2019.
The aircraft, registered SP-LVM, arrived in Warsaw, Poland, from Boeing’s factory in Seattle, the United States, on October 28, 2022.
The plane was initially due to go to Romanian air carrier Blue Air. However, the financially struggling Romanian airline ceased its operations at the end of September 2022.
In early October 2022, LOT reached an agreement with lessor Air Lease Corporation to take over Blue Air’s MAX 8 jets. In total, six aircraft are due to arrive in Poland.
The aircraft is also the first Boeing 737 MAX delivery LOT received in almost four years – since the infamous MAX grounding in March 2019.
The Polish airline already has five other MAXs in its fleet, delivered between December 2017 and December 2018, according to Planespotters.net data.
In March 2019, following two fatal crashes of Lion Air flight JT610 and Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 that together claimed 346 lives, the aircraft was grounded worldwide.
The US Federal Aviation Administration ungrounded the aircraft in November 2020 and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency followed suit allowing the aircraft to operate commercial flights with passengers in Europe in January 2021.
In October 2021, LOT filed a lawsuit against Boeing for $250 million in financial damages due to the grounding.