The Minister of Transport, Ramona Mănescu, announced in the opening of the Government meeting that TAROM will resume the flights on the route Bucharest - Beijing. Ramona Mănescu also specified that discussions have already taken place with the company's management and that for the beginning "it is possible to reopen the Beijing-Bucharest line with two flights per week".
Today's news brought a smile to my face and I remembered the farce made on April 1 - Beijing - Bucharest with China Eastern Airlines, since the summer of 2013. Here it was not to be from the summer of 2013, but it is likely to be from the summer of 2014. And it will be operated by China Eastern Airlines but by TAROM. Farsa started from a desire we all have, long-haul direct flights departing from Bucharest to Asia and the United States. I chose Beijing because I felt it was a very desirable destination, and my instinct seems to have not deceived me.
The flights could be honored with 2 Airbus A310 aircraft, unfortunately quite old. They are very well maintained, but with great financial efforts, and fuel consumption is "huge". The Airbus A310 is a medium and long courier twin-engine aircraft and has two colors. The A310 was not a popular aircraft, being produced only 255 units, between 1983 and 1998. The flight range can be up to 6,800 km (A310-200) and up to 9600 km (A310-300).
We look forward to the day when a TAROM plane takes off to Beijing on a commercial flight.
It would be terrible to operate them with A310, we would return in the years 80-90. An A330 (wishful thinking) would be ideal.
Yes, they would not be profitable.
Good thing it's not April 1… I'm a frequent flyer in Asia, and I can't wait to fly BUH-Pekin, or BUH-BKK non-stop! From experience I speak, it is very difficult to operate these routes with the A310, besides the very old age, the Tarom planes are both unprofitable - high consumption and expensive maintenance! We can also talk about the entertainment on board, which is missing on the A310, I think about the TV in the back of the seats, etc., which counts for a 9-hour flight.
With 2 flights a week, the route is not very profitable. Another problem, I don't see the Romanian market, is to offer 400 passengers (2 × 200) per week. Tarom must think about "gathering" passengers from neighboring countries - Bulgaria, Moldova, maybe Hungary (Serbia was lost if it entered the Etihad). Flights from China are volume flights, the ticket price is quite low - around 650E - I caught, on offer and 485 E. There is also the possibility of cargo, but even here there are airlines, cheaper than Tarom.
Romanians, who go to Asia, generally fly with Turkish (60-70%), and the rest with Lufthansa, Austrian or Qatar.
Isn't it better to rent a new plane, more economical - there are enough on the market, why not, maybe even from the LOT, how does Finnair?!?
Totally agree! There are many logistics problems!
Maybe we can help the Chinese with a plane 😀