Romania seeks to save flag carrier Tarom with new restructuring plan

The new management at national flag carrier Tarom will revise the restructuring plan, approved by the European Commission in April 2024 along with a EUR 95 million state aid, and will file the first draft of the amended document in early September, with the final draft due by the end of September, acting transport minister Radu Miruta announced on July 28. Romania will invoke the high fuel prices and delays in the delivery of aircraft to request more time for the restructuring, initially set for the end of this year, he explained. Tarom has not reported a profit since 2008, except for a profit from the sale of assets in 2024.

Tarom failed to meet the targets set in the restructuring plan last year, and the deviation from the planned financial trajectory continued this year. Failure to demonstrate viability by the end of 2026, as envisaged under the restructuring plan, would result in the Commission withdrawing the state aid – which would push the company into bankruptcy. Romania will notify the European Commission about its failure, under a note to be drafted by Tarom’s new CEO and endorsed by the Transport Ministry, minister Miruta announced, as reported by G4media.ro.

The Romanian authorities will pledge to file the revised restructuring strategy to the European Commission in September, minister Miruta also said, without commenting on what the new plan may include. At the end of April, deputy prime minister Oana Gheorghiu commented on the problematic situation at Tarom. “We know that Tarom is in a restructuring process approved by the European Commission.

This process is not on schedule for reasons, some objective, some less objective, but the Tarom company is in dialogue with the European Commission," she said. The company was supposed to either find a partner that would finance the continuation of its restructuring process, or it would be orderly closed down, according to a government document published by Economedia.ro at that time. Minister Miruta, who took over the Transport Ministry after the Social Democrats (PSD) pulled out from the executive, said he would evaluate the situation.

Within several days, however, the government was dismissed by the Social Democrats and its priorities changed during the interim term. Only recently, in July, minister Miruta dismissed Tarom’s CEO Bogdan Costas over failure to deliver a revised restructuring plan and req…