Pe domnul Jakub Malecki am avut plăcerea să îl cunosc la un eveniment de business și am rămas plăcut impresionată de cât de frumos mi-a povestit despre activitatea dumnealui în cadrul companiei aeriene poloneze LOT Polish Airlines și nu în ultimul rând, m-a impresionat cât de mult îi place România!
Anca Pavel: Mr Jakub Malecki, when did you begin your Romanian experience, as the General Manager LOT Polish Airlines for Romania and Republic of Moldova?
Jakub Malecki: Officially it began on 1st January 2013, but I arrived in Bucharest on 5th of December 2012 to take over the duties from my colleague, who was on this position before me.
A.P: Romania is one of the most important market for LOT Polish Airlines, from Central and East Europe. How do you evaluate the business activity of LOT in Romania? Do you currently focus to extend the business?
J.M: We have been developing our business in Romania for the past 2 years. In March 2014 we introduced our 3rd daily flight between Bucharest and Warsaw, which was a huge success and significantly changed our position on the market. LOT became one of the TOP international legacy carriers operating in Otopeni. Besides giving more opportunities to travelers visiting Warsaw, we became the fastest airline to bring passengers to New York with just 12:25 min from taking off from Coanda to Kennedy airport. Connecting time for some flights to Polish and European cities was reduced to less than an hour.
Next step was an opening of the Cluj – Warsaw route on 30 March this year with 4 flights weekly. Already today we see that it was another good decision and if the route continues developing well, we might increase the number of frequencies.
A.P: When did LOT Polish Airlines firstly operated flights from and to Bucharest?
J.M: LOT Polish Airlines was established in 1929 and already in 1931 the company’s first multi-segment flight along the route Warsaw – Lviv- Cernăuți– Bucharest was launched, so Bucharest was one of our first international destinations.
A.P: At this moment, which is the flights frequency per week?
J.M: 21 between Bucharest and Warsaw and 4 between Cluj-Napoca and Warsaw.
A.P: LOT Polish Airlines proudly announced new flights from Cluj-Napoca, started from 30th of March 2016. It is great news, especially for passengers who need to travel from West and Central side of Romania to Warsaw and to other main destinations such as Prague, Munich, Amsterdam, Milan, Toronto, New York. Now, does LOT focus to new connections from Romania? Iasi, for instance?
J.M: We are looking forward to explore further development opportunities to become the leading international airline on Romanian market.
A.P: Which is the profile of passengers who travel to Poland, from Romania?
J.M: It is mainly corporate traveler flying to Warsaw, another Polish, or European city, but we also have many leisure travelers – individuals and groups – to various destinations in Poland, Europe, North America, Asia, students, sportsmen, official government delegations. Our offer is for all travel segments.
A.P: As a travel consultant, I encourage Romanian tourists to travel to Poland, to discover the beauty of Polish cities, because there, history and culture are excellent combined. For instance, Krakow and Warsaw are perfect travel inspiration. From your experience, did the number of Romanian passengers, who travel for leisure in Poland, grow?
J.M: Yes, this traffic has been growing due to more flights and more attractive fares and promotional offers. More and more travel agents are selling trips to Poland and more and more Romanians are interested in visiting our country, not only Warsaw and Krakow, but also Gdansk, Poznan and Wrocław which is this year the European capital of culture. Together with Poland also other central European destinations are becoming more popular, especially Baltic States, where besides Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn, we are offering good connections via Warsaw to Palanga, a known resort at the seaside.
We appreciate very much your efforts in this matter. Your article about Poland http://ancapavel.ro/2016/03/15/recomandare-pentru-vacanta-de-paste-polonia-pe-urmele-lui-chopin/ was very professional and very attractive, so you are definitely one of the contributors to the recent growth of this traffic.
A.P: Speaking about Poland, do you see any similarities between Romania and Poland, in terms of people and places?
J.M: There are many Polish expats working in Romania and we all feel very well here, because our mentalities are similar. In our history, our nations and countries were never at war, or any conflict. Nowadays both countries are among best growing economies in the EU and there is a lot of cooperation between our governments. There are similarities between our cities as well. In Bucharest, like in Warsaw the communist architecture is mixed with beautiful buildings from the beginning of the 20th century and very modern buildings. In both cities there are a lot of very nice parks and green areas. Sibiu, Brasov and Cluj, remind me my hometown Kraków and the landscape of Transilvania is similar to this of Southern Poland.
A.P: You have been travelling a lot around Romania. From the way you are speaking about Romania, it is obvious that you like very much our country. And as Romanian citizens, we are very honored! Which are your favorite places that you would recommend to foreigners?
J.M: Yes, I am in love with Romania and I still keep exploring it. There are hundreds of places worth visiting here and we could talk for hours about them. What is great about Romania is the fact, that it is attractive for all kinds of tourists: you have beautiful mountains, great seaside, castles, historical towns, great roads with beautiful views and last but not least, a vibrant, cosmopolitan capital. You have all kinds of music festivals and many other cultural events. You have picturesque villages and even cemeteries J You have great wine and food. You have very good services and very reasonable prices. The fact that Romania is not yet a very popular tourist destination, makes it even more attractive, more natural. I myself feel great in Bucharest, but love Brasov, Cluj and Sibiu My latest discovery is Timisoara, which I find unique, so different than any other city in Romania.
A.P: What is your opinion about Bucharest, as a place for city breaks? From your point of view, is Bucharest a suitable holiday option for foreigners, not only the main big cities from Europe?
J.M: Bucharest is an ideal city-break destination with so many good LOT connections via Warsaw 🙂 But of course not only because of that: it has very interesting architecture and history, it has a lot of places to go out – restaurants, pubs, clubs – everything is of good quality and for good prices. It has great hotels, it offers a lot of cultural events. Many of my friends have visited Bucharest on my recommendation and everyone was very positively impressed.
A.P: Thank you very much for your time, Mr Jakub Malecki! Enjoy your stay in Romania and I hope LOT Polish Airlines will bring more and more passengers to and from Romania, in the following years.
Atletico Madrid says:
Great, thanks for sharing this article.