LOT Polish Airlines has scheduled the end of an era. The carrier will operate its final Embraer E170 revenue flight on October 30, when flight LO222 departs Vienna International Airport (VIE) at 3:35 PM local time and lands at Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW) at 4:50 PM. It is a 75-minute hop on a route that carried the type into commercial service with LOT in 2004, and it will now carry the airline’s last example out of it.
LOT was the world’s first airline to fly the E170 in revenue service, launching the aircraft shortly before Poland joined the European Union in May 2004. The symmetry is deliberate and poignant: the jet’s first flight was also between VIE and WAW, so the final rotation returns the story to its starting point. Across 22 years, almost 14 million passengers have flown aboard LOT’s E170s, and the fleet has logged close to 300,000 flights, more than 455,000 flight hours, and over 200 million nautical miles (roughly 230 million kilometres) of flying, according to Flightradar24 data cited by the airline.
The Last Flight Is a Short Hop That Proves the Point
LO222 has been a workhorse short-haul rotation rather than a ceremonial showpiece. Its previous four operations, on October 24, 25, 28 and 29, recorded flight times between 53 and 67 minutes on Flightradar24. Those services were flown by an E170 once, Embraer E175s twice and a Boeing 737-800 once, a mix that quietly illustrates how the E-Jet family and larger narrowbodies now share the loads the smallest member once handled alone.
Krzysztof Moczulski, a LOT Polish Airlines spokesperson, framed the moment with unusual candour: “Today, we are bidding farewell to the smallest member of this family: the Embraer E170 (registration SP-LDH), which will complete its final passenger rotation on a flight to Vienna. It is a symbolic moment that closes a specific chapter.”
Embraer E-Jets Will Continue to Serve LO222
The route does not lose its Embraer character after October 30. The next three LO222 operations, on a near-identical schedule, are scheduled for November 1, 5 and 6, and will be flown by Embraer ERJ 190s twice and an E195 once. LOT operates 22 of these larger jets with an average age of 14.2 years, according to Planespotters.net, three years younger than the carrier’s 14 E170s still listed in service.
The transition costs passengers little in comfort. LOT configures its E-Jets in two classes, LOT Business Class and LOT Economy, both in a 2-2 arrangement with no middle seat. The E190 adds efficiency and reach, with a maximum takeoff weight of 105,000 lb (47,800 kg) and a range of 1,500 nautical miles (2,780 km), alongside lower fuel consumption and improved range over the E170. In economy, the standard 31-inch (79 cm) seat pitch and 18-inch (46 cm) seat width keep the cabin experience familiar.
The E170 Has Been a Loyal Workhorse for LOT Polish Airlines
The first E170, registration SP-LDA, joined LOT on March 8, 2004, and its delivery was an endurance test in itself. Because the aircraft came from South America, the ferry flight stopped at Recife in eastern Brazil, Espargos in Cape Verde and Málaga before reaching Poland. Eleven days later, SP-LDA completed its first commercial flight, and a new chapter in Polish aviation began.
The type deserved the loyalty. It introduced LOT to a new generation of technology, becoming the carrier’s first aircraft with winglets and fully electronic fly-by-wire controls. Measuring 98 feet 1 inch (30 m) in length with an 85-foot 5-inch (26 m) wingspan, it seats 70 to 78 passengers depending on configuration.
Beyond Warsaw, the E170 made itself indispensable on short-haul routes to some of LOT’s most important destinations, including Prague’s Václav Havel Airport (PRG), Copenhagen Airport (CPH) and Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD), plus a dense network of domestic and regional European services. It carried the airline through EU accession, through the turbulent 2010s, and into an era when Embraer E-Jets became the backbone of LOT’s regional flying.
For aviation observers, the October 30 farewell is more than a fleet note. It marks the retirement of the launch customer’s original aircraft type, the jet that let LOT become the first airline in the world to prove the E170 in commercial service. The plane that once symbolised ambition now closes the story quietly with a short evening flight between two European capitals, leaving the E190 and E195 to carry the schedule into the 2027 summer season.
