Romania’s newest airline has put its first regular flights for sale this Friday (26). AirConnect is based in Bucharest and currently operates a single ATR 72-600 in charter operations, and the first regular run is expected to take place in October 15.
The chosen destinations are nine in Romania: Baia Mare, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Constanƫa, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Târgu Mureș and Timișoara. The Hungarian capital Budapest is also on the list.
While two routes will be connected to Budapest, the rest will be concentrated domestically, in a diverse selection of connections.
Air Connect intends to connect underserved routes by benefitting from the lower capacity of its ATRs. In some city pairs, the start-up will face competition, especially with the national carrier TAROM — which also operates the Franco-Italian turboprops.
In these flights, the company is trying to undercut the State-owned airline by offering lower fares, starting from EUR33,07 (one-way) between Bucharest and Suceava.
Air Connect is backed by five Romanian investors and is led by CEO Tudor Constantinescu, who previously served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Blue Air, Romania’s local low-cost carrier.