Tarom privatised after 2005

National airline Tarom’s privatisation is tied to cutting losses and becoming attractive to investors, which goals cannot be attained any sooner than 2005-2006, Ioan Lixandru, Tarom’s general manager said. “If we were to privatise the company now, we would have to break it up and sell it this way. Once we have cut the losses, we will order an audit, appraise the company and decide how to privatise it,” Lixandru added. One of the privatisation options is going public following an initial public offering. Another option is attracting a private capital inflow for a capital increase or closing a public-private partnership. Until such time comes, the company is focusing on upgrading and on selecting only the profitable routes. It will buy two new Boeing 737-700 by the end of the year and pay for them with the cash obtained from a $75 million export loan arranged by ING Capital LLC New York. Tarom is also in talks with Airbus to buy four A 318 aircraft. After dropping the flights to New York, the company has become a regional operator. ZF