Romania’s national airline Tarom is facing a stringent government probe after the airline reported significant losses in the first half of 2017. The embattled airline has not made a single profit since 2007.
It is reported that the airlines general manager Eugen Davidoiu had rowed with the Prime Minister Mihai Tudose over the poor results of the company and has since resigned. The Prime Minister said on television on Saturday that he believed the company was now in a worse shape than last year.
The head of the government has ordered an investigation into the airline's management during the last 8 years, after the airline reported losses of 330 million euros over this period - 22.7 million in the first half of this year.
“They’ve 'achieved' a historical loss. We need to do something about it because it’s a national company, it’s a national symbol and it won’t be closed down or sold … It needs to become profitable and it needs to develop,” The Prime Minister said, advising an investigation would take some time.
Mr Tudose also questioned what seemed like excessive staffing levels at the airline, “If those employees were 1,000 pilots, it would be fine. But we have more employees in the support departments, such as marketing … And, you know, the pilots and flight personnel are the ones who produce the money for the ground personnel,” he explained.
Mr Davidoiu on Sunday told the media he doubted an audit will bring to light any irregularities during his tenure as general manager, since it only began on 2nd February 2. “The irregularities are not to be found during my tenure, but in the past,” he explained. “Did you know Tarom doesn’t even have legal personnel? The former management gave up those positions,”
He also believes Tarom is doing better than its closest rivals “Look around Romania: how many state-owned airlines are still standing?" he asked. But the market is heavily competed over, with Wizz Air and Romanian Blue Air increasing their market share dramatically over recent times.
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