(Redirected from Tarom)
'TAROM' is the flag carrier airline of
Romania. Its main base is the
Henri Coandă International Airport in
Bucharest (formerly Otopeni airport). The airline operates scheduled domestic services and international services to destinations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. 95% of TAROM is owned by the
Romanian Government (
Ministry of Transport). The brand name TAROM is an
acronym for 'T'ransporturile 'A'eriene 'ROM'âne (Romanian Air Transport).
History
The beginnings
TAROM was founded in
1920 under the name CFRNA - (''French-Romanian Company for Air Navigation''). The airline used French-built
Potez aircraft for its passenger / mail service between
Paris and
Bucharest via several cities in Central Europe.
In
1925, the city of
Galaţi became the first destination in Romania served by regular flights. In
1926 the airline changed its name to CIDNA (''The International Air Navigation Company''). In
1930, the company adopted the name LARES (''Liniile Aeriene Române Exploatate de Stat'') while
1937 saw the merger of LARES with its competitor SARTA (''Societatea Română de Transporturi Aeriene'').
Post WW2
After
World War II, when the
Soviet Union had extended its influence across Eastern Europe, the airline TARS (''Transporturi Aeriene Româno-Sovietice'') was established on
8 August 1945, jointly-owned by the governments of Romania and the Soviet Union. Domestic operations were started from Bucharest (
Baneasa Airport) on
1 February 1946. The company's Soviet share was purchased by Romania and, on
18 September 1954, the airline adopted the name of TAROM - (Transporturi Aeriene Române - Romanian Air Transport).
TAROM titles in the 1970s
By
1960, TAROM was flying to a dozen cities across Europe.
1966 saw the operation of its first trans-Atlantic flight. On
May 14 1974, it launched a regular service to
New York City - (JFK International Airport).
Being part of the group of the airlines belonging to
Soviet Bloc states, TAROM operated Soviet-design
Li-2,
Ilyushin Il-14,
Ilyushin Il-18,
Ilyushin Il-62,
Antonov An-24, and
Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft. An exception was made when, in
1974, TAROM acquired
Boeing 707 aircraft for its long haul operations, and British Aircraft
BAC One Eleven in 1968 for European and Middle East destinations. In 1978 a contract was signed with the UK to manufacture the BAC One Eleven near Bucharest. Meantime the 707 and IL62 long range aircraft were operating New-York (via Amsterdam, later London and finally Vienna), Abu-Dhabi-Bangkok-Singapour, and Karachi-Beijing. TAROM was the only eastern airline to operate flights to Tel-Aviv.
The 1990s
It was only after the collapse of the
Soviet Union in
1991 that the airline was able to acquire more Western-built jets. By
1993, TAROM had introduced long haul flights to
Montreal and
Bangkok, using
Ilyushin Il-62, and
Airbus A310 aircraft.
During the
1990s, TAROM replaced its long-haul fleet of Boeing 707s and IL-62s with three new A310 jets. In
2001 the airline cancelled its non-profitable long haul services to Bangkok and Montreal and also terminated services to its remaining intercontinental destinations of
Beijing (in
2003),
Chicago (in
2002), and New York City (in
2003).
TAROM terminated loss-making domestic services to
Craiova,
Tulcea,
CaransebeÅŸ, and
Constanţa) and focused its activity on service to key destinations in Europe and the Middle East.
2004 was the first profitable year of the last decade.
Today
TAROM is recovering from a difficult period that began in the 1990s, when losses of up to $68 million a year were registered, caused by unprofitable routes. At the beginning of the new millennium, the airline initiated a program that was aimed at restoring profitability. This was achieved by terminating loss-making intercontinental services.
TAROM has decided to focus its operations on Bucharest (Henri Coandă International Airport) (OTP) and
Cluj-Napoca International Airport (CLJ). Code-share agreements with foreign partner airlines are in place for several international routes. To meet competition from
Carpatair, which uses the city of
TimiÅŸoara in Western Romania as its hub city, TAROM has initiated direct international flights from
Sibiu,
Cluj-Napoca and
Bacău. In June 2005 it was announced as one of the four future associate members of
SkyTeam Alliance, due to join by
2006. A fleet update program started the same year (2006) with the acquisition of the first two Airbus A318 (from a total of four ordered).
In February 2007, TAROM announced it would restart its long haul operations, by leasing 2-4
Airbus A340/
A330 or
Boeing 777/
767 [1] and by re-introducing the 2 Airbus A310 into service. The first long-haul destination resumed could be Beijing.
The airline has a frequent flyer programme
Smart Miles.
Destinations
Main articles: TAROM destinations
Fleet
The TAROM fleet consists of the following aircraft as of
August 2007 [1]
'TAROM Fleet'| Aircraft | Total | Passengers
(Business/Economy) | Routes | Notes |
|---|
| Airbus A310-300 | 2 | 209 (20/189) | Larnaca, London, Tel Aviv | |
| Airbus A318 | 2
(2 orders) | 113 (14/99)
| Europe | |
| Boeing 737-300 | 5 | 116 (14/102)
124 (10/114)
138 (0/138) in charter configuration | Europe, charter | |
| Boeing 737-700 | 4 | 116 (14/102) | Europe, Middle East, Africa | |
| ATR 42-500 | 7 | 48 (10/38) | Domestic & short haul international routes | |
In November and December of 2006, Tarom took delivery of its first two
Airbus A318-111 (YR-ASA and YR-ASB), becoming only the second commercial operator of this type of aircraft in
Europe. The aircraft are being used on routes from Bucharest to
Brussels,
Frankfurt,
Munich and
Paris [2].
Retired fleet
Addition to the fleet:
Airbus A318 delivered on November 15, 2006
At Bucharest Airport
★
Boeing 737-500 (YR-BGZ)
★
Boeing 737-300 (YR-BGX "Galaţi")
★
ATR 42-300 (YR-ATX "Dâmboviţa")
★
DC-10 (OO-JOT)
★
Ilyushin Il-62
★
BAC One-Eleven
★
ROMBAC 1-11
★
Ilyushin Il-18
★
Tupolev Tu-154
★
Antonov An-24
★
Boeing 707
★
Ilyushin Il-14
Maintenance
'TAROM - Technical Division' is an aircraft maintenance provider. It employs 800 staff and specializes in maintaining ATR, Boeing 737 series, Airbus A310 and A320 aircraft.
[3] Other maintenance providers in Romania are
Aerostar SA in
Bacău and
Romaero located at
Băneasa Airport, Bucharest.
Codeshare agreements
The company has code-share agreements with the following airlines (July 2007)
[4]:
'TAROM - codeshare agreements'| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|
| Aeroflot | Moscow |
| Air France | Paris |
| Air Moldova | Chişinău |
| Alitalia | Cluj, Milan, Rome, TimiÅŸoara |
| Austrian Airlines | Geneva, Iaşi, New York-JFK, Sibiu, Timişoara, Toronto, Vienna, Washington-Dulles, Zürich |
| Brussels Airlines | Brussels |
| Iberia Airlines | Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia |
| LOT Polish Airlines | Warsaw |
| Malév | Budapest, Constanţa |
| Syrian Arab Airlines | Aleppo, Damascus |
Alliances
In 2006 TAROM was scheduled to join
SkyTeam as an associate member (sponsored by
Alitalia), but the entry into the alliance is postponed until at least 2007.
Livery
★ The TAROM logo, representing a
swallow in flight, has been used on all TAROM aircraft since 1954.
★ In the 1970s livery the logo on the tail was painted in red, with a red strip alongside the fuselage at the windows level.
★ The livery introduced in the early 1990s on the
Airbus A310 aircraft) is an
eurowhite scheme with the titles and the tailfin painted in dark blue.
★ Today's color scheme (introduced in 2006 on the A318) is a slightly modified version of the previous one, with an oversized logo on the tailfin, and the engines also painted in dark blue.
★ All aircraft in the TAROM fleet receive a "name" which is a Romanian
toponym. For instance, the names of the ATR aircraft in the fleet are related to the rivers of
Romania, the Boeing aircraft bear names of Romanian cities, the Airbus long-haul aircraft bear Romanian historical province names, while the new Airbus A318 bear names of Romanian aviation pioneers
[5]
★ List of TAROM aircraft names and registration:
''
★ '' ''not yet delivered''
Incidents and accidents
The most serious accident in TAROM history occurred on 31 March 1995 when an Airbus A310-324 (YR-LCC "Muntenia") - operating a Bucharest to Brussels service - crashed soon after the take-off, killing all people onboard. See
Tarom Flight 371. Several other TAROM incidents, some with fatalities, are recorded by the Aircraft Crash Record Office
[2]
See also
★
Aviation in Romania
★
Transport in Romania
References
1. CH Aviation - TAROM Fleet
2. Airliner World January 2007
3. TAROM Technical Division
4. Codeshare partners
5. TAROM homepage
External links
★
Official website
★
Photos
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