After 27 years, an era ended for both LOT Polish Airlines and partly civil aviation. On March 10, the Boeing B737 version -400 made its last flight under the Polish carrier. It was also the last commercial flight of the famous B737 Classic series in LOT colors.
The last B737-400 (SP-LLG) made flights on the Warsaw – Krakow – Warsaw route, which was the end of service at LOT Polish Airlines. Thanks to the cooperation with the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, the aircraft had a special “LAST734” callsign. The last machine in the -400 version was farewell not only by airports with water salutes, but also by our controllers from the Krakow and Warsaw tower as well as area and approach controllers.
The 737-400 design was launched in 1985 to fill the gap between the B737-300 and the 757-200, and competed with the Airbus A320 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80. The prototype rolled out on January 26, 1988, and flew for the first time on February 19, 1988. The aircraft entered service on September 15, 1988, with launch customer Piedmont Airlines (25 aircraft ordered). The aircraft entered service on September 15, 1988, with launch customer Piedmont Airlines (25 aircraft ordered). The last two Boeing 737-400, the last Boeing 737 Classics, were delivered to CSA Czech Airlines on February 28, 2000. The 737-400 was replaced by the 737-800 in the Boeing 737 Next Generation family.
LOT takes delivery of its first Boeing 737-400 (SP-LLA) in April 1993. The aircraft took 147 passengers on board and helped replace the aging fleet of Soviet jets. Part of the fleet also flew for several years in the sister company – Centralwings and under the LOT Charters brand. LOT currently has three 737-400 in the fleet, which will soon be unregistered from the Polish AOC and will be converted into cargo aircfrats. In total, 10 B737-400 have passed through the fleet of LOT. These were planes with registrations SP-LLA, SP-LLB, SP-LLC, SP-LLD, SP-LLE, SP-LLF, SP-LLG, SP-LLH, SP-LLK and SP-LLL.
