ROMANIA: TAROM Air Expands Flights

TAROM airline is preparing the peak summer season and will commence a fourth weekly flight between Bucharest, Romania’s capital, and Amman, Jordan. This new flight will begin on July 3 and is scheduled for Mondays, through September 25.

TAROM airline is Romania’s flag carrier and the oldest operating airline of country. It is a member of skyteam and is headquartered in Otopeni, Romania. The airline’s hub is located at Henri Coanda International Airport.

Romania is probably most well-known for its association with the legend of Dracula. This Southeastern European country includes the forested region of Transylvania, and is ringed by the Carpathian Mountains.

Visitors will enjoy exploring the preserved medieval towns with their fortified churches and castles.

TAROM, Romanian airline and member of skyteam, announced it is expanding its summer service to Spain. The airline is adding one flight to its Bucharest-Barcelona route and Bucharest-Valencia route, as well as adding 2 more flights to its Bucharest-Madrid route.

TAROM is Romania’s flag carrier and the oldest operating airline of the country. Its headquarters and main hub are located at the Henri Coanda International Airport. TAROM is also the largest airline operating in Romania based on international destinations, international flights, and the second largest measured by fleet size and passengers carried.

The airline directly operates 79 destinations including charter and seasonal services in 25 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa including 6 domestic destinations.

The airline's flights to the USA ceased in 2003 and are now operated under a codeshare agreement with Air France via Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.

In 2006, TAROM was scheduled to join SkyTeam as an associate member sponsored by Alitalia, but the entry into the alliance was postponed until 2008. On 7 May that year, SkyTeam signed a SkyTeam Alliance Associate Adherence Agreement (SAAAA) with TAROM.

On 22 June 2010, SkyTeam announced that it had renewed its membership program, thereby making TAROM a future full member of the alliance. On 25 June 2010, TAROM became a full member of SkyTeam.

TAROM has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Aegean Airlines
Aeroflot
Air Europa
Air France
Air Serbia
airBaltic
Alitalia
Austrian Airlines
Brussels Airlines
Bulgaria Air
Czech Airlines
KLM
Middle East Airlines

On 4 November 1957, a TAROM Ilyushin Il-14, registration YR-PCC, operating an international administrative flight from Bucharest to Moscow crashed short of the runway at Vnukovo Airport, killing four of 16 on board. The aircraft was on approach to Vnukovo Airport when the pilot noticed that the aircraft was too low, however the aircraft continued its descent until it struck tree tops and later crashed.

The aircraft was carrying Romanian government members Chivu Stoica, Grigore Preoteasa, Alexandru Moghioroş, Ştefan Voitec, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Leonte Răutu and Marin Năstase to Moscow for the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution.

Preoteasa, who apparently was not wearing a safety belt, and three Soviet crew members lost their lives.

On 24 February 1962 a Ilyushin Il-18V, registration YR-IMB, operating on an international scheduled flight from Bucharest Otopeni Airport (OTP) to Tel Aviv via Nicosia lost power on all four engines and made a belly landing on a grassy field in Cyprus.

While cruising at 23,000 feet over the Mediterranean Sea and 43 miles offshore, engine number 3 lost power, followed shortly by number 1 and 2. Then at 10,000 feet and 27 miles offshore engine 4 also quit. All 100 occupants survived. The aircraft was transported to Moscow for repairs, but it never re-entered service.

On 9 October 1964, an Ilyushin Il-14, registration YR-ILB, operating a domestic scheduled flight from Timișoara to Bucharest broke apart in mid-air and crashed 2 km south of Cugir, killing all 31 on board. The aircraft had flown into a strong downdraft; the pilot attempted to maintain altitude, but this caused the fuselage to overstress and break apart.

On 4 February 1970, TAROM Flight 35, an Antonov An-24, registration YR-AMT, operating a domestic scheduled flight from Bucharest to Oradea struck the side of a mountain in the Vladeasa mountain group, killing 20 of 21 on board. The aircraft began descending in poor visibility until it struck tree tops on a mountain side, after which it struck the slope of a second mountain.

The aircraft was leased from the Romanian government.

On 29 December 1974, an Antonov An-24, registration YR-AMD, operating on a domestic scheduled flight from Bucharest to Sibiu crashed into the side of the Lotrului mountains (22 km south of Sibiu) at an altitude of 1,700 m, killing all 28 passengers and 5 crew members.

The crew's incorrect approach procedure execution, which led to the aircraft drifting south off course by 20 km, while the wind was increasing turbulence was present.

On 7 August 1980, a Tupolev Tu-154B-1 registered YR-TPH, operating on an international scheduled flight from Bucharest Otopeni Airport to Nouadhibou Airport, Mauritania ditched in the water 300 m short of the runway at Nouadhibou Airport.

The crew could not see the runway while descending through the 90 m decision height. A missed approach procedure was initiated when the pilot felt contact with what he thought was ground, but was actually water.

All of the 152 passengers and 16 crew members survived the impact, but a passenger suffered a heart attack and died before he could be rescued. Most of the passengers were sailors who were going to replace the crew of two Romanian ships located on the Mauritanian coast.

Many passengers swam to the land, while sharks were kept away by the vibrations of an engine which continued to function for a few hours after the crash.

On 5 September 1986, an Antonov An-24 registered YR-AMF operating on a domestic scheduled flight from Bucharest Băneasa Airport touched down nose wheel-first while landing at Cluj Airport. A fire erupted, killing three crew members who were trapped in the cockpit. The other two crew members and all fifty passengers survived.

On 28 December 1989, during the Romanian revolution, an Antonov An-24 flying from Bucharest to Belgrade, carrying journalist Ian Henry Perry, was shot down by a missile at Vișina, Dambovița. All the people on board,six crew members and the passenger died.

On 24 September 1994, TAROM Flight 381, an Airbus A310 registered YR-LCA flying from Bucharest to Paris Orly, went into a sudden and uncommanded nose-up position and stalled. The crew attempted to countermand the aircraft's flight control system but were unable to get the nose down while remaining on course.

Witnesses saw the aircraft climb with an extreme nose-up attitude, then bank sharply left, then right, then fall into a steep dive.

Only when the dive produced additional speed was the crew able to recover steady flight. An investigation found that an overshoot of flap placard speed during approach, incorrectly commanded by the captain, caused a mode transition to flight level change. The auto-throttles increased power and trim went full nose-up as a result.

The crew's attempt at commanding the nose-down elevator could not counteract effect of stabilizer nose-up trim, and the resulting dive brought the aircraft from a height of 4,100 ft at the time of the stall to 800 ft when the crew was able to recover command. The aircraft landed safely after a second approach. There were 186 people on board.

On 31 March 1995, a TAROM Airbus A310 operating as Flight 371 crashed near Balotești due to a fault in the throttles and lack of recovery from the flight crew. All 50 passengers and 10 crew members were killed

On 30 December 2007, a TAROM Boeing 737-300 (YR-BGC "Constanța"), flying Flight 3107 hit a car on the runway of Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport while taking off for Sharm-el-Sheikh. The aircraft stopped beside the runway and was severely damaged.

None of the passengers were injured. Because of fog, neither the tower nor the pilots saw the car belonging to staff who were repairing a runway beacon.