EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines to start codeshare services June 9

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) EVA Airways and LOT Polish Airlines will begin on June 9 operating codeshare services aimed at providing seamless travel between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Warsaw Chopin Airport amid a lack of direct flights, the Taiwanese carrier said Friday.

The codeshare partnership with LOT Polish Airlines is expected to improve air travel between Taiwan and Poland, which signed an air service agreement in 2015, but have not seen scheduled direct flights between the two countries, EVA Air said in a statement.

The two companies are both members of the Star Alliance, EVA Air Chief Executive Vice President Liao Chi-wei (廖至維) said in the statement, attributing the new partnership to the Taiwanese carrier's efforts to forge close ties with fellow members since it joined in 2013.

Under the partnership, the Taiwanese carrier's flight numbers that start with "BR" will be added to flights operated by LOT Polish Airlines between Warsaw and two transfer points -- Vienna, Austria and Tokyo Narita Airport in Japan.

This will enable EVA Air customers to book Taoyuan-Warsaw flights via either Vienna or Tokyo Narita on one ticket through its website, the Taiwanese carrier said.

The Polish carrier's fight numbers that begin with "LO" will be added to EVA Air's flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) and those two airports.

The codeshare partnership makes air travel between Taiwan and Poland more convenient, further boosting tourism and trade for both countries, Liao said in the statement.

According to search results shown on the EVA Air website, the Taiwanese carrier currently operates three direct flights between Taoyuan and Vienna, departing Taiwan on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, while services on the other four days of the week include a stopover in Bangkok in both directions.

The partnership was first announced by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) during his visit to Warsaw in November last year, at a luncheon attended by Andrzej Dycha, head of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency and representatives from Taiwan-based companies Foxconn (Hon Hai), Chunghwa Telecom, Chimei Corp. and Taiwan Optical Platform.

After the air service agreement was signed in 2015, the two countries saw the first direct passenger flight five years ago, when a charter service operated by the Polish carrier from Warsaw landed in Taoyuan on June 7, 2020.

The historic flight brought back more than 100 Taiwan nationals stranded at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland in 2020.

LOT Polish Airlines added Taoyuan as one of its destinations through codeshare flights operated with Singapore Airlines via Singapore in late 2018, Taiwan's civil aviation authority announced at the time.