Tarom, Europe's second most punctual air carrier in 2006

Bucharest – Tarom ranked second last year in the top of air carriers with the most punctual takeoffs, with 88.4 per cent of the flights on schedule, according to data the Association of European Airlines (AEA) remitted to Mediafax on Tuesday. In the classification including data refering to flights covering European destinations,

Luxembourg’s Luxair ranked as the most punctual company, and SN Brussels Airline and CSA (the Czech Republic), third and fourth respectively. The European average of on time takeoffs in 2006 was of 79.4 per cent.

Still, during the last quarter of 2006, Tarom ranked as the most punctual European airliner followed by Icelandair and Air Malta, according to AEA.

Statistics show that an average of nearly 78 per cent of the air planes that take off at airports in Europe do not have delays, yet late arrivals are due to busy traffic.

According to the Association, Tarom was also in the last quarter of 2006 among the top three air carriers that lost the fewest luggage, 7.5 pieces of luggage lost per 1,000, behind Turkish Airlines and Air Malta. According to the AEA, British Airlines ranks bottom, with 16.9 pieces of luggage lost per 1,000, during the past three months, last year. The study has been conducted on a number of 22 companies.

Business volume up 3 pc, profit rate of 2 pc in 2007

Separately, Tarom forecasts improved operational results, the driving engine for efficient activity, followed by a cost-cutting policy, according to the Tarom general director, Gabriel Dumitrescu. “The growth will be driven by cost cuts, given the revenues cannot raise significantly due to low-cost carriers,” Dumitrescu said yesterday, according to Mediafax. Further more, Tarom will lower ticket prices this summer to certain destinations and some of the regular routes, Dumitrescu also said, a shift due to price policies practised by budget carriers.

Tarom aims to reach a business volume of USD 300 M in 2007, up less than 3 pc from 2006, but forecasts a doubling of profit from last year, to USD 7 M. Nonetheless, the company’s profit rate remains very low, under 2 pc.

In line with the cost-cutting principle, the director of the of the airline operator also said that by June, Tarom will have introduced a ticket-purchase online system – e-ticketing, a condition required by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), of all European airlines by 2008. The electronic ticketing system has already been operating for such destinations as Budapest, Tel Aviv, Chisinau, Athens, Istanbul, Brussels and Paris.

The Romanian state holds 95 pc in the national carrier Tarom, which operates a fleet consisting of 18 air planes, with two more to join by the end of this year.

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