Romanian airline TAROM has financial debts of around 930 million lei, negative equity of 105 million lei and estimates losses of 186 million lei this year, interim Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu said in a Facebook post published on Wednesday.
She also mentioned that the aircraft occupancy rate is below 70%, "well below the assumed targets.", agerpres reports.
According to the interim Deputy Prime Minister, the company's reported profit in 2024 was generated by asset sales and exceptional accounting treatments, not by current operational activity.
"In the past 10 years it was the only year with profit. In fact, a false profit," Oana Gheorghiu underscored.
In this context, she argues that the company's main problem is not a lack of potential, but the absence of effective governance.
"Romanian airline TAROM appears trapped in a vicious circle in which the company's assets are sold to cover losses, difficult decisions are postponed and governance conflicts block reform," she wrote.
The interim Deputy Prime Minister said that, following analyses carried out and discussions with the company's management, she had identified a lack of a coherent long-term strategy and a clear vision regarding the airline operator's competitiveness.
"You cannot save a strategic company through patriotic speeches alone. You cannot demand performance without real independence of the Board of Directors, without genuine professional criteria, without managerial accountability and without a serious industrial strategy for Romanian aviation," Oana Gheorghiu said.
She believes that TAROM's recovery requires turnaround management, professionalised governance, measurable objectives, financial discipline and a strategic partnership.
At the same time, the interim Deputy Prime Minister underscored the company's strategic role for Romania's connectivity, mobility and security, and warned that the time available to implement reforms is limited.
"Either we start a real reform at TAROM now, or the company will continue to be sold off in pieces just to buy a little more time," Oana Gheorghiu conveyed.
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