Tarom: The number of business class clients dropped by 60%

“We have one third of the clients we used to have for business class. This dropped significantly, because passengers have switched to economy class. Thus, instead a paying €1,500, they now pay far less for economy,” Tarom’s General Manager, Ruxandra Brutaru, told Business Standard.

She added that the airline will try to offer more accessible tariffs for business class in the near future, in order to regain part of its lost clients.

The official also said that the company is currently working on a rather ample strategy to cut costs. “I inherited a company with very high costs. The most difficult thing is to try and amortize and reduce these,” Brutaru indicated.

Although Tarom has many operating costs, the airline prefers to raise the efficiency of some departments, without relying on layoffs to do this. “Our intention is to work only with what is strictly necessary. If we will reach the conclusion that certain departments have excess personnel, we could lay off employees. But for now, we do not have any clear intention to resort to lay-offs, but rather to reorganize,” Tarom’s General Manager said.

On the other hand, Brutaru indicated that the airline needs a 20-30 percent increase in the number of pilots, considering that one quarter of the operator’s 220 pilots are over retirement age.