Candidate transport minister pledges to keep Romania's flag carrier Tarom alive

The carrier will continue operating, Ștefan-Ovidiu Popa, the candidate for minister of transport and infrastructure, said during his hearing before the parliamentary committee on October 19. The incoming government’s programme envisages attracting a strategic investor to acquire a stake of 20–49%.

“We will do everything possible” to extend the deadline set under the restructuring plan approved by the European Commission in 2024, he said, as reported by Profit.ro.

“We will have to submit the revised reorganisation plan to the European Commission by December 31, 2026, and I can tell you right away that Tarom will not close. Tarom is a Romanian brand that must continue to exist. I will meet with the management, and we will establish the details from there,” the ministerial candidate said.

The Luca Niculescu government will support a revised two-year business plan for the national carrier before the European Commission while also seeking to attract a strategic investor, either for a minority stake of 20-49% or for a majority stake, according to the governing programme of the prime minister-designate.

“We support the revised two-year business plan before the European Commission, which must demonstrate Tarom’s viability by December 31, 2026, and protect the approved state aid of EUR 95.3 million. With the installation of professional management, we will conduct a transparent and competitive procedure in 2027 to attract a strategic investor (a minority stake of 20–49% or a majority stake), while maintaining technical maintenance services and essential domestic routes through competitively assigned public service obligations,” the government programme states.