Earlier this week, LOT Polish revealed flights from its Warsaw Chopin hub to Almaty. Almaty is not Central Asia’s most populous city—the Uzbek capital of Tashkent is, and the carrier already flies there. However, it is number one in Kazakhstan. The addition came shortly after the Italian airline Neos added one-stop Milan-Almaty flights on the Boeing 737.
When LOT Polish’s never-before-served route starts next year, it will become the 
Star Alliance member’s third destination in Central Asia. It will join Tashkent (flights began in 2024) and Nur-Sultan (2017), which is Kazakhstan’s capital. Timed at up to 7h 20m, Almaty will be LOT Polish’s new longest nonstop service on the Boeing 737 MAX (and any narrowbody) next summer.
LOT Polish Doubles Kazakhstan Routes
On May 31, in time for the peak summer with the highest demand and fares, LOT Polish will take off from Warsaw to Almaty. It is bound to make my celebratory Weekly Routes article (see the most recent edition).
According to booking data, just 13,000 round-trip passengers flew between the two cities last year. The airline will grow traffic from nonstop service and hopefully strong promotions. Most people connected with Turkish Airlines in Istanbul or Qatar Airways in Doha.
LOT Polish’s flights will run four times a week aboard the 186-seat 737 MAX 8. The variant includes the so-called European business class, with the middle seat blocked. With a movable curtain, the number of seats varies per flight based on demand. The contrast with Turkish Airlines’ business offering, for example, is stark, especially given LOT Polish’s overnight service in one direction and a leg of 7h 20m in the other.
|
Days |
Warsaw To Almaty; Local Times |
Days |
Almaty To Warsaw; Local Times |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays |
LO197: 22:40-08:00+1 (6h 20m) |
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays |
09:20-13:40 (7h 20m) |
What Is In A Time?
As you’d expect, Almaty has a very similar schedule to LOT Polish’s flights to Nur-Sultan and most of its services to Tashkent. The late evening departure from Poland is also nearly the same as for services to the Caucasian cities of Baku, Tbilisi, and Yerevan, along with the Middle Eastern cities of Beirut and Tel Aviv, etc. In contrast, flights to Riyadh, which launched in June 2024, leave Warsaw in the afternoon.
Dozens of European cities will connect to/from Almaty with a relatively quick connection in Poland. Hubs are usually based on the cumulative effect. The more ‘spokes’ there are with good coordination, the fewer passengers will be required per market. Larger targeted cities include Milan (43,000; hence Neos’ interest), Frankfurt (42,000), London (36,000), Prague (17,000), Paris (14,000), Amsterdam (12,000), Vienna (11,000), and Budapest (9,000). Some of these cities are already served on a nonstop or one-stop basis by different carriers.
It is worth briefly looking at where Tashkent and Nur-Sultan passengers traveled last year. According to booking data, Riga, Vilnius, and Heathrow were LOT Polish’s top three markets from the Uzbek capital (Uzbekistan Airways previously flew Tashkent-Riga-New York JFK). In contrast, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and Frankfurt were the three highest-ranking cities from the Kazakh capital.
It Will Be LOT Polish’s New Longest Narrowbody Service Next Summer
On a maximum block time basis in summer 2026, LOT Polish from Almaty back to Warsaw is timed at 7h 20m. Using Cirium Diio data to examine schedules shows that it’s longer than any of its other narrowbody-operated routes in that season (it may be different at other times). It will replace Nur-Sultan back to Warsaw for the top spot (7h 10m), while it is a bit longer than from Tashkent to the Polish capital (6h 50m).
In 2024, some of LOT’s Nur-Sultan MAX flights were timed at 7h 30m. The airline also uses the type to Dubai. However, for obvious reasons, it only flies there during the winter. Even then, they’re not long enough: departures are timed at up to 6h 45m.
