Polish flag carrier LOT is said to be nearing the acquisition of Smartwings, the largest airline in the Czech Republic, according to Polish media.
Speculation regarding LOT’s interest in the Czech airline is not new, having already circulated a number of times during the course of 2025.
However, things seem to have accelerated recently with Polish-language financial news site Money.pl claiming that LOT’s CEO, Michał Fijoł was in Prague towards the end of October to reportedly negotiate the terms of the acquisition.
Smartwings, which focuses primarily on the leisure travel market, is also said to be on the radar of other carriers with a similar operational profile, such as Eurowings and SunExpress.
Its owner, Czech businessman Jiří Šimáně, was previously close to selling Smartwings to Israeli airline Israir, but the deal finally unraveled.
Šimáně and his business partners acquired full control of Smartwings in 2024 after buying out Chinese shareholders. Prior to this ownership change, Smartwings had absorbed most of the remaining assets of historical Czech flag carrier CSA, which had previously gone bankrupt.
Smartwings originated as part of tour operator Travel Service, the largest in the Czech Republic, with subsidiaries also in Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. According to the ch-aviation database, as of November 2025, Smartwings has a fleet of 41 active aircraft, a mix of Airbus A220 and A320s and several B737 versions.
It is not currently known what LOT would do with Smartwings if the acquisition finally goes ahead, However, this is not the first attempt made by the Polish airline to expand into other Central European markets. For some time in 2018/19, LOT toyed with the idea of setting up a base in Budapest (BUD) and even launched nonstop flights to the US from the Hungarian capital.
LOT has also partnered with Polish tour operator ITAKA, which launched its own charter airline earlier in 2025, using A320 aircraft wet-leased from Bulgarian ACMI carrier Electra Airways.
