LOT Polish Airlines: US Routes, 2007-2010

LOT Polish Airlines had quite a few more flights to the United States, from quite a few more Polish cities, just a few years ago. This included non-stop service from Kraków to Chicago and non-stop wide body flights from Rzeszów to both New York-JFK and Newark which began in June 2007, but have since been discontinued. The airline still flies to all three American airports, but only from Warsaw's Chopin International.

Brussels Airport Departure Board #6

The 7 o'clock hour at Brussels Airport shows a continued array of European airlines to other European airports large (Frankfurt) and small (Billund), some of them more unusual (such as Finnair to Helsinki, or LOT to Warsaw) than others. But unquestionably the most exotic carrier taking off for the most distant and unique destination is at ten minutes past the hour: Ethiopian's ET709 to Addis Ababa via Milan.

LOT Polish, ca. 1960

At the height of the cold war, LOT IL-62 jets stretched from Baghdad to Benghazi to Brussels, with the flagship route to New York via Shannon, London and Amsterdam. The routes seem even more dense to the west than the east, with a surprising number of North African destinations: Tunis, Algiers, Benghazi, and Cairo.