Tarom
From Freepedia
| Tarom | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA RO | ICAO ROT | Callsign Tarom | |
| Founded | 1920 (as the French-Romanian Company for Air Navigation) | ||
| Hubs | Henri Coandă International Airport | ||
| Focus cities/ secondary hubs | Cluj-Napoca International Airport | ||
| Frequent flyer program | SMART MILES | ||
| Fleet size | 16 | ||
| Destinations | 43 | ||
| Parent company | TAROM S.A. | ||
| Headquarters | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Key people | Gheorghe Racaru (President and CEO) | ||
| Website | www.tarom.ro | ||
Tarom is the national airline of Romania. Its main base is at Otopeni Airport, Bucharest. The airline operates scheduled domestic services and international services to Europe and the Middle East. It is owned (91%) by the Romanian state (Ministry of Transportation).
Contents |
History
Tarom can trace its origins to the year 1920 when the French-Romanian Company For Air Navigation, (CFRNA) was formed. The airline used French built Potez planes to carry passengers and mail, from Paris to Bucharest, stopping in European cities en route.
In 1925, the city of Galati became the first domestic Romanian destination. In 1926, the airline changed its name to The International Air Navigation Company, (CIDNA). In 1930 it changed its name to LARES (Liniile Aeriene Române Exploatate de Stat), and in 1937, LARES was merged with competitor SARTA (Societatea Română de Transporturi Aeriene).
It was established on 8 August 1945 as a joint Romanian-Soviet undertaking named TARS (Transporturi Aeriene Romano-Sovietice) and started operations on 1 February 1946. The Soviet share was purchased by Romania and the airline renamed on September 18 1954. The airline became known as Tarom (Transporturi Aeriene ROMâne, meaning Romanian Air Transport). By 1960 Tarom was flying to European capitals, and in 1966 operated its first trans-atlantic flight. By 1974, Tarom began services to JFK International Airport in New York. It also reached Australia, flying to Sydney, via Calcutta.
During the 1980s, Tarom, an Eastern Bloc airline, was forced to buy Russian aircraft exclusively. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tarom has re-introduced western built jets to their fleet. It also has a frequent flyer program and is under contract with Schabak and Wooster Plastic Planes to make their model airplanes.
TAROM today
TAROM is recovering from a difficult period at the beginning of the 90's, when it registered $68 million a year losses because of non-profitable routes. At the beginning of the 2000s the company began a program to make the company more profitable. TAROM stopped all long-haul routes (Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Bangkok, Beijing, New York) as well as the domestic non-sustainable regular flights (Craiova, Tulcea, Caransebeş, Constanţa, Arad) and focused on European and Middle East destinations. The new strategy succeeded, 2004 being the first profitable year in the last decade, while 2005 will mark a further increase in profits. Today, TAROM is among the few state-owned profitable airlines in Eastern Europe.
Tarom has decided to focus on Henri Coanda International Airport (OTP), Traian Vuia International Airport (TSR) and Cluj-Napoca International Airport (CLJ)(in order of traffic).
In June 2005 it was announced as among the four future associate members of Skyteam Alliance, due to join by 2006.
Destinations
- Domestic scheduled destinations: Bacau, Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca, Constanţa, Iaşi, Oradea,Satu-Mare, Sibiu, Suceava, Targu-Mures,Timişoara.
- International scheduled destinations (at January 2005):Amman, Athens, Beyrouth, Bruxelles,Bucharest, Budapest, Cairo, Chişinău, Damascus, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Heraklion, Istanbul, Larnaca, London LHR, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris CDG, Prague, Rome, Sofia, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich.
- Charter destinations
from Bucharest: Antalya, Bodrum
from Cluj Napoca:
Fleet
The Tarom fleet consists of the following aircraft (at May 2005):
- 5 Boeing 737-300
- 4 Boeing 737-700
- 7 ATR 42-500
The airline has also an order for 4 Airbus A318
Former used aircraft
Incidents and accidents
The only disaster in TAROM history occured on March 31, 1995 when an Airbus A310-324 (YR-LCC) operating on Bucharest OTP - Brussels route crashed soon after take-off killing all people onboard.
External links
| Members of the Skyteam Alliance | Image:SkyTeam logo.jpg | |
| Aeroméxico | Air France | Alitalia | Continental Airlines | CSA Czech Airlines | Delta Air Lines | KLM | Korean Air | Northwest Airlines | ||
| Future members: Air Europa | Aeroflot | China Southern Airlines | COPA | Kenya Airways | TAROM |
