fb-pixelPolish airline to seek compensation for 787s - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Polish airline to seek compensation for 787s

WARSAW — The Polish national airline, LOT, said Tuesday that its Boeing 787s, grounded for months due to battery problems, will resume flying in early June, and it will seek compensation from the US plane maker.

Sebastian Mikosz, LOT’s chief executive, told the PAP news agency that both of the carrier’s 787s will resume commercial flights to North America and China, following repairs and test flights.

The two planes, currently in Chicago and Warsaw, will have their batteries fixed in Ethiopia, where Boeing technicians are preparing to fix the country’s four 787s.

A third 787 that LOT is due to receive in May will have a new kind of battery; it will also enter service in June. Two more 787s are to join LOT’s fleet in July and August.

Advertisement



Heavily indebted LOT is Europe’s only airline with 787s, also known as Dreamliners.

Norwegian Air Shuttle has ordered some, but deliveries have been delayed.

LOT’s management had hoped the fuel-efficient plane would attract business and improve financial results. Instead, the grounding has cost it money, as it had to extend leases on its three 767s.

The airline will approach Boeing Co. in mid-June over compensation for ‘‘hundreds of millions of zlotys’’ in losses, Mikosz told PAP.