Tarom carried 14.2% fewer passengers in first half

In the first half 2009, Tarom underperformed the European market, reporting the lowest load factor of all airlines, of only 49.9% versus 73% European average. The decrease of load factor was largely driven by the increase in flight capacity by 1.1%, while the majority of European airlines have reduced capacity down to an average of -4.6%.

In June, Tarom carried 139,000 passengers, 15.4% fewer than a year earlier. June load factor stood at 56.2%.

In the period under review, European airlines carried 156.1 million passengers, 9% fewer than year-ago half.

The five largest airlines by the number of passengers carried in H1 are Lufthansa (25.5 million passengers), Air France (23.2 million passengers), British Airways (15.5 million passengers), Turkish Airlines (11.05 million passengers) and Scandinavian Airlines (10.8 million passengers).

The highest load factor was recorded by Spanish-based Iberia (78.9%), followed by KLM (78.7%) and Air France (76.5%).

Tarom booked revenues of 404 million dollars in 2008, 10% more than a year earlier. In 2008, the company carried 1.98 million passengers.