Romania’s Ministry of Transport announced that it plans to hire professionals from the corporate world for the state-run airline TAROM, the country’s main carrier.
Cătălin Drulă, an official in charge of the portfolio, explained that the selection of the executives will be made through specialized recruitment companies. According to the minister, «four or five companies» have already applied for the tender. TAROM’s future Board of Directors would have a four-year term.
Drulă said that this «is the only option to save the national company,» which recorded sustained losses over the past fourteen years and is in a critical financial situation enhanced by the pandemic. During that time, all company’s directors were appointed through political maneuvers. According to Romanian media, the management of the flag carrier was not characterized by aeronautical technical criteria.
However, yesterday (April 18), the Board of Directors added a new member. It is the lawyer Cătălin Radu Dancu, former Romanian consul in New York. According to local press reports, he is a person close to the ministry. He will take office next May 6, for an initial period of four months and the possibility of being extended.
The appointment came days after the announcement of the Minister of Transportation. In this sense, it represents a continuity of the company’s current management policy and not a new criterion based on previous experience in airline management, as had been announced.
TAROM’s main shareholders are the Romanian State, represented by the Ministry of Transport (97.22%), the National Airports Company of Bucharest (1.46%), the air traffic management company Romatsa (1.24%) and the investment company SIF Muntenia (0.08%).
Its current active fleet consists of five ATR 72s, four Airbus A318s, four 737-700s and four 737-800s. It also has seven ATR 42-500s and four 737-300s in storage, according to information obtained through ch-aviation.
On the other hand, Cirium shows that for April the company has an offer of 203,368 seats, which represents a 70% recovery compared to the levels of the same month of 2019 (65% in ASK).
TAROM network reaches 31 European, Caucasus and Middle East cities, in addition to 9 domestic destinations from its hub in Bucharest.
Red de TAROM – Abril 2022 (Mapa realizado con Cirium Map Scheduler)
