Tarom sees traffic up, posts losses

State-run airline Tarom carried 2.2 million people last year, 430,000 more than in 2009, which accounts for an about 25% increase on 2009.

“We ended 2010 in the red, with losses probably as high as in 2009,” Ruxandra Brutaru, general manager of Tarom, told ZF. The state-run airline representatives later explained ZF that they had yet to finalise their 2010 financial results estimates.

“We have not closed the accounting books of 2010 yet, therefore we do not have a final financial report. We will go public with this information as soon as we have all the data available,” Tarom representatives answered in reply to ZF’s questions.

Tarom ended 2009 with 55.8 million euros in losses, the heaviest losses of the past decade and 193 million euros in turnover.
On the other hand the latest revised draft of the state-run company’s budget published this week and set to be approved by the Government shows Tarom’s profit set at 53 million RON (12.5 million euros) in 2010. The officials of the company and of the Transport Ministry had not provided clarifications as to the losses of the company in 2010 by edition close.