On November 8th, the Boeing 767-200 ER Freighter cargo plane departed from the Katowice – Pyrzowice airport to Canada, inaugurating the first trans-Atlantic cargo connection in the history of Polish aviation. The connection Hamilton – Katowice – Hamilton is the common enterprise of LOT Polish Airlines and the Canadian freighter Cargojet. Boeing, which can hold up to 45 tons of cargo each time, will perform flights on the route Hamilton – Katowice – Hamilton once a week.

After profound analyses, The Cargo and Mail Office of LOT Polish Airlines decided that there was sufficient transport potential between Central Europe and North America. The opening of this connection will increase several times the capacity offered by LOT Polish Airlines on trans-Atlantic routes and make it possible to transport large goods with maximum dimensions up to 3.18 m x 2.44 m x 2.44 m. The offered capacity allows also LOT Cargo customers to plan the volume of transport over a longer period of time and maintain the high quality and timeliness of transport services.

„The implementation of the idea of direct cargo connection from Poland meets the expectations of many of our customers” – said Mariusz Kuczek, Director of the Cargo and Mail Office of LOT Polish Airlines. „This connection provides an opportunity to increase the competitiveness of Polish forwarding companies and companies exporting goods to North America”.

Co-operation with Cargojet includes cargo deliveries to destination ports in Canada. Thanks to interline agreements concluded with other carriers, LOT Polish Airlines ensures the delivery of cargo dispatched by freight plane to all ports in the United States, Central and South America.

The introduction of flights from Katowice, which is the main centre of the Upper Silesian Industrial Region, will give many companies the possibility of faster transport of their goods to Canada and the USA. Thanks to the proximity of Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria, the connection offered by LOT is an alternative to ports in Warsaw, Kraków, Prague, Bratislava and Vienna.

Cargojet, a Canadian all-cargo airline, performs over 14,000 flights per annum. Most of them are night flights with cargo to be delivered to the Customer in the morning. Cargojet is considered to be the best cargo airline by forwarders in Canada. It offers more than 20 connections in Canada as well as over 50 international connections.