Aerolot (until 1925 Aerolloyd) was a Polish
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
. Created in 1922, it was the first regular airline in Poland. Throughout its existence, the airline attained a 100 percent safety record. Nationalised in 1928, it became the core of
LOT Polish Airlines
LOT Polish Airlines, legally incorporated as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. Established in 1928, LOT was a founding member of IATA and remains one of the world's oldest airlines in operation. Wit ...
, the
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hist ...
of Poland.
History
The company was formed in 1922 by Ignacy Wygard, Bronisław Dunin-Żuchowski and Kazimierz Unruch, three co-owners of
Fanto, the largest oil producing company of former
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. Their intention was to allow oil barons like themselves to travel quickly between the Borysław and Drohobycz oilfields, Warsaw where their company had its headquarters, and the port of Danzig, through which they exported most of their products. The newly created "Polish Air Line Aerolloyd" company was formed with financial backing of German
Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of th ...
company, who tried to open its own airline in Danzig, since 1923 running under the name of
Deutscher Aero Lloyd
Deutscher is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Alma Deutscher, British musician and composer
* Drafi Deutscher, German singer and composer
*Guy Deutscher (linguist)
*Guy Deutscher (physicist)
*Isaac Deutscher, British jo ...
. Aero Lloyd's Danzig subsidiary, the
Lloyd Ostflug
Lloyd, Lloyd's, or Lloyds may refer to:
People
* Lloyd (name), a variation of the Welsh word ' or ', which means "grey" or "brown"
** List of people with given name Lloyd
** List of people with surname Lloyd
* Lloyd (singer) (born 1986), American ...
(Lloyd Eastern Airlines) headed by
Erhard Milch
Erhard Milch (30 March 1892 – 25 January 1972) was a German general field marshal (''Generalfeldmarschall'') of Jewish heritage who oversaw the development of the German air force (''Luftwaffe'') as part of the re-armament of Nazi Germany foll ...
, started operations shortly after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
but had to limit its activities due to French pressure. Consequently, its aircraft were leased to the new Polish company. They received Polish civilian registrations, but also affectionate male names, the initial of the nickname reflected the last letter in the registration. Thus P-PALB became 'Bronek', P-PALC became 'Cezar', and so on.
Aerolloyd was not the first airline in Poland, but it was the first to offer regular flights and survive. The company enjoyed subsidies from the government of Poland who allowed its aircraft to use military airfields in Poland free of charge for lack of purpose-built civilian airports. The government also repaid
Mp.130 for every
kilometre
The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ex ...
and allowed the company access to meteorological data from military weather stations.
Based in the
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
, the airline initially operated a Danzig-
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
-
Lwów
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
line, in 1924 a Warsaw-
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
link was added to the timetable. In 1925 it was extended to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
(since 1926 by way of
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
), and a new line linking Kraków with Lwów was added.
From the very start the company was pressured by the Polish government to "polonise" its staff and shareholders, and to buy planes from Poland's allies rather than from Germany. However, as Junkers' prices were much lower, the company decided to stick with German aircraft, but bought them from Junkers' Swedish subsidiary rather than from Dessau directly. To counter potential political repercussions, in 1925 the company was renamed to Aerolot, its former German shareholders were repaid and the company moved its technical base from Danzig's
Langfuhr Airfield to
Mokotów Airport
Mokotów , is a ''dzielnica'' (borough, district) of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Mokotów is densely populated, and is a seat to many foreign embassies and companies. Only a small part of the district is lightly industrialised (''Służewiec ...
in Warsaw's
Pole Mokotowskie
Pole may refer to:
Astronomy
*Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets
*Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...
. The new air depot was the first civilian air facility in Poland, although the airfield itself was shared with the
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...
. In 1926 a Warsaw-
Łódź
Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...
line was also started. The following year a connection between Warsaw and
Wilno
Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
(now Vilnius,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
) was planned, but eventually the idea was scrapped as not feasible economically. The connection to Łódź was also closed down.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00007, Berlin, Start eines Junkers-Flugzeuges](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-00007%2C_Berlin%2C_Start_eines_Junkers-Flugzeuges.jpg)
Initially the airline operated six
Junkers F.13
The Junkers F 13 was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft, developed in Weimar Republic, Germany at the end of World War I. It was an advanced Cantilever#Aircraft, cantilever-wing monoplane, with enclosed accommodation for four passenge ...
transport aircraft flown by pilots from
Junkers
Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I, English: Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonly Junkers , was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded there in Dessau, Germ ...
factory in
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
and with pilots and technicians of the
Junkers Luftverkehr
''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and th ...
. With time they were replaced with Polish pilots trained at Dessau. By 1926 ten more Junkers F.13 aircraft were acquired. In 1925 Aerolloyd bought a single three-motor
Junkers G 23W floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
for the planned Danzig-
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
-
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
line, but the aeroplane was returned to the producer after trial flights.
On 4 January 1927 Ignacy Wygard, the vicepresident of Aerolot, initiated the creation of Polish Air Union. The union was formed by Aerolot, its main competitor
Aero airline and
Silesian Air Society operating the newly constructed
Katowice-Muchowiec Airport
Katowice-Muchowiec Airport ( pl, Lotnisko Katowice-Muchowiec, ICAO code: EPKM) is a general aviation (mainly sport use) airport in the Muchowiec neighbourhood of Katowice, Poland.
It has one inoperative concrete runway, RWY 05/23 with the dimen ...
and intending to become a fully-fledged airline. Eventually on 28 December 1928 all three companies were nationalised by the Polish government and merged to form
LOT Polish Airlines
LOT Polish Airlines, legally incorporated as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. Established in 1928, LOT was a founding member of IATA and remains one of the world's oldest airlines in operation. Wit ...
, the Polish
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hist ...
. Soon before the merger, Aerolot's former German partners also had merged to form
Deutsche Luft Hansa
''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and th ...
, the flag carrier of Germany.
References
Footnotes
Citations
Bibliography
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*
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* {{cite web , title=Civil Aircraft Register - Germany , work=Golden Years of Aviation , url=http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_D-.html , access-date=11 September 2014 , ref={{sfnRef, "Golden Years of Aviation"
Defunct airlines of Poland
LOT Polish Airlines
Airlines established in 1922
Airlines disestablished in 1928
History of Gdańsk
Companies based in Gdańsk