TAROM below expectations after 7 months

TAROM, the largest airline operator on the local market, transported one million passengers in the first seven months of the year, 14% more than the same time last year, but less than the 20% full-year rise estimate, which would bring the company’s number of passengers to 2.3 million in 2008. However, the advance reported by TAROM places the company among the top ten airline operators in Europe in terms of growth rate, alongside Aerosvit, Turkish Airlines and TAP Portugal, according to the Association of European Airlines (AEA). In terms of the number of passengers transported in the first six months, TAROM ranks 22nd out of the 32 air operators that are included in AEA. In the same period, TAROM had a 62.2% occupancy degree, down 5% against the same time in 2007. In the first six months of 2008, TAROM posted an around 194 million-dollar turnover, 20% more than in the first half of 2007.