LOT Polish Airlines will soon begin retrofitting its widebody fleet with new interiors. This is a big deal because LOT’s current business class cabin features older seats in a six-abreast layout, so this will represent a major upgrade in the airline’s long-haul product offering. Most European airlines today offer lie-flat seating, meaning that LOT has fallen behind in terms of competitiveness, and the Polish flag carrier is spending roughly $400 million on this project.

The airline has only confirmed retrofits for its Boeing 787-8 fleet, of which it currently has eight. Most of these planes have been in service for over a decade, and this will be their first full nose-to-tail refurbishment. In addition, LOT also has two more leased 787s set to arrive soon, which will likely introduce its new cabin standard. LOT has not announced plans to reconfigure its newer Boeing 787-9s, of which there are seven, but it’s likely that the airline will simply retrofit the 787-9s later.

The New Interiors Coming To LOT’s Dreamliners

Credit: LOT Polish Airlines

LOT intends to begin retrofitting its Boeing 787-8 fleet with fully new interiors. The biggest news is with the business class, as LOT plans to install the Recaro CL6720 (having since been renamed as the R7), a direct aisle access suite with sliding doors. LOT currently installs the Safran Aura Lite on its 787s, a lie-flat seat that it introduced in 2013, and is configured six abreast. This will therefore represent a major leap in quality for the carrier’s business class, and LOT isn’t stopping there.

The carrier has gone with Recaro to refurbish its premium economy and economy cabins, selecting the PL3530 for premium economy and the CL3810 (now the R3) for economy. In addition, LOT is upgrading the seatback entertainment, having partnered with RAVE Aerospace to provide the inflight entertainment systems. It’ll install a 17.3-inch (43.9 centimeter) 4K display for business class, while premium economy and economy will receive 13.3-inch (33.8 centimeter) 4K screens.

The new screens will come with Bluetooth capability and LOT will also install USB-C ports, while business class will offer wireless charging. With the new seats, LOT is introducing a new visual design standard, and it has also announced Viasat in-flight Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi retrofits are separate from the new interiors, and the installations are already underway. Notably, the Wi-Fi project covers both the 787-8 and the 787-9 fleets, even though the new interiors have only been confirmed for the 787-8s.

LOT’s Retrofit Timeline For The 787s

Credit: Shutterstock

LOT first announced the new interiors for its 787s back in 2023, but also clarified that the first aircraft wouldn’t receive the new seats until 2026. There have been surprisingly few updates ever since LOT first announced this project, and the most precise timeline given is that the first aircraft will enter service by the end of the year. LOT has agreed to lease two second-hand 787-8s for 12 years, due in October and December, which will likely be the first to enter service with the updated cabins.

The retrofit project is scheduled to be finished by 2030, which is a long timeline considering that the carrier will only be refurbishing eight 787-8s. This means that only up to two or three Dreamliners will be retrofitted per year on average. However, LOT is short on widebody aircraft, and with such a small long-haul fleet in general, it can’t afford to refurbish multiple 787s at once. The carrier is currently wet-leasing Boeing 777s from EuroAtlantic Airways, in addition to the two 787-8s coming soon.

The 787-8s are older than the seven 787-9s, which is why they’re being refurbished first, but LOT’s announcement only confirmed that the 787-8s would be retrofitted. The reason for this is likely because, as previously mentioned, LOT has a tiny widebody fleet that will be refurbished gradually to preserve service levels.

As such, it wouldn’t want to make an announcement or commit capital to a project that, at the time of the announcement, wouldn’t commence for another seven years. As such, the Boeing 787-9 fleet will probably be retrofitted, but only in the 2030s after the 787-8s are completed, and LOT won’t announce this until the 787-8 project is closer to wrapping up.

Possible Changes To The Layout

Credit: Shutterstock

LOT has a very dense layout on its 787-8s, featuring 18 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 213 economy seats, for a total of 252 seats. Premium demand is generally on the rise, especially out of North America, where most of LOT’s network is centered. In addition, while LOT has traditionally been conservative with premium cabin sizes, there’s also growing travel demand in Poland, and it would be beneficial to slightly increase premium capacity with the refit.

The Recaro R7 is a more space-efficient seat than the Safran Aura Lite, so LOT could easily install 20 suites in the same space where it currently installs 18 business class lie-flats. Meanwhile, and this is speculation, but premium economy demand is at an all-time high, and LOT’s 21-seat premium economy cabin is fairly small. Several airlines are now increasing the size of their premium economy cabins because of how high demand is, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more premium economy seats with the retrofit.

On the flip side, the slow pace of LOT’s 787 refurbishment means that aircraft swaps will be complicated if you have one or a handful of planes with a different configuration. In addition, more premium seats would be reflective of a change in strategy, and there’s no indication whether this is happening at LOT. Furthermore, while adding capacity to meet growing premium demand can be beneficial, it can also result in a decline in yields, hurting revenue. As such, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see a similar layout to what’s flying today.

Where The LOT 787-8s Fly

Credit: Shutterstock

LOT’s primary hub is Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW), which is where the majority of its long-haul flights originate. However, it does also operate a route between John Paul II Krakow Balice International Airport (KRK) and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), which uses a 787-8 on select days of the week (while the 787-9 operates this route on other days). Meanwhile, the 787-8s operate nine long-haul routes out of WAW, primarily to North America, but also to some Asian destinations.

LOT deploys the 787-8 to Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) on four days out of the week as well as to Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) six times per week. In North America, the 787-8 also flies to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) six days out of the week, which is LOT’s only Canadian destination. Meanwhile, the carrier flies to six cities in the United States, all of which are served by the 787-8 on select days out of the week, while the 787-9 also flies to these destinations.

With the gradual retrofit rate and how LOT switches equipment on its routes multiple times per week, the retrofitted 787-8s might not necessarily be confined to a single route when they debut. It means that there won’t be a route that consistently sees the new interiors, because even once the 787-8s have been retrofitted, the carrier will still be flying 787-9s with the older cabin.

Looking At The Competition

Credit: Shutterstock

Among the larger airlines in Europe, LOT’s business class product is older than what many rivals are flying. Finnair and SAS both have direct aisle access business class seats across their entire long-haul fleets, as do Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, ITA Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and SWISS. Notably, however, Lufthansa still has the majority of its fleet configured with business class seats in a six or seven-abreast layout. While new planes are being delivered with the new Allegris cabins, it’ll be years until retrofits are completed.

Turkish Airlines still has very similar seats to LOT’s on much of its long-haul fleet, although it has been installing lie-flats on new Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 deliveries. The carrier is now planning to introduce a new staggered direct aisle access seat made by a subsidiary on its upcoming A350-1000 deliveries, and it plans to also install these seats on some of its Boeing 777-300ERs. Meanwhile, the remaining examples will be retired as new widebodies continue to come in.

Meanwhile, British Airways offers its ‘Club Suites’ on most of its widebody aircraft, but its Airbus A380s notably still feature the older Club World seats that are configured seven-abreast on the upper deck and eight-abreast on the main deck. In addition, the Gatwick-based Boeing 777s feature the older Club World seats and will not be retrofitted. However, the Gatwick 777s are going to be replaced by Boeing 787-10s with Club Suites, while the A380s are set to be refurbished.