Romanian President and PM to go on regular flight to Brussels after Tarom gives up on costly presidential charter

The Romanian President and the Prime Minister will share a plane on their way to Brussels, after the country's state – owned airline Tarom recently gave up on the presidential plane, which was costing too much. The President Traian Basescu is scheduled to go to Brussels on Thursday for the European Council meeting, and he will be using a regular Tarom flight, the same as PM Victor Ponta, who will meet EU state leaders who are part of the European Social Party, according to Mediafax.

In the past, the Presidency used to rent a special plane from Tarom for the president's flights, but the airline, which is currently trying to cut its costs, has stopped running the Airbus A 310 plane, as it was causing it a loss of some EUR 7 million. Tarom, which is currently run by private management, has been running total losses of some EUR 50 million a year. The Romanian president used to have a special plane, a Boeing 707 managed by Romavia until 2010, but the 38-year old plane could not be repaired due to lack of funds, so the presidency switched to a charter plane from Tarom whenever the president had to go abroad. The President and the PM sharing a regular flight stirred some comments from political analysts, reminding of last year's quarrel between the two, which caused discussions at a European level concerning Romania's political stability. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Tarom)