TAROM (RO, Bucharest Henri Coanda) has ended widebody operations for the time being following the withdrawal of its last remaining A310-300 from revenue service.
Research indicates YR-LCA (cn 636) carried out its last flight as RO416 Madrid Barajas-Bucharest Henri Coanda on Saturday, October 29, and was greeted with a water-cannon salute on its arrival home. With the type's withdrawal, so Tarom will now suspend its Dubai International (United Arab Emirates), Nice (France), Geneva (Switzerland) and Amman Queen Alia (Jordan) routes for the duration of the winter season.
The ch-aviation fleet database shows the Romanian carrier has operated a total of three A310-300s over the years. The twinjets were the first Western-manufactured widebody aircraft to feature in the state-owned carrier's fleet following the fall of the communism in 1989. The aircraft were used on flights to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Beijing Capital, New York JFK, Singapore Changi, Montréal Trudeau, and various European destinations.
Tarom has already issued an RFP for suitable 190+seater aircraft to replace the now gone A310 fleet through a combination of short- and long-term leases.
Fleet renewal will play a key role in the airline's restructuring Ionut Moşteanu, Romania's Secretary of State for Transport, has said. Given increasing pressure from LCCs such as Blue Air (Romania) (BLA, Bucharest Henri Coanda), Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) and Wizz Air (W6, Budapest), government has warned painful cuts will have to be undertaken when Tarom's turnaround programme kicks off in Spring 2017.
