Romanian president without presidential jet after contract with state-owned Tarom canceled

Romania's president will go on official visits abroad flying regular airline flights, instead of his presidential jet. The contract between the Romanian Presidency and the state owned airline Tarom over the plane used by the country's president Traian Basescu was canceled at the end of March, following the public dispute between the president and the Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu, according to Romanian media.

The Airbus 310 airplane, nicknamed the VIP plane, was used by Traian Basescu for trips abroad, and the presidency had a retainer contract for the plane, despite only using it occasionally. The options for the president's future flights in the following two to three months are regular scheduled flights, and for internal emergencies, military planes or helicopters. This may cause some diplomatic trouble, as for official visits, usually host country officials await the guest at the airport and welcome the visitor with military honors, which is not possible when the guest arrives with a normal airline. Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu recently presented a document via which Tarom was asking the ministry for some EUR 5 million a year for the VIP plane, which only brought revenues of some EUR 341,000 in 2012. The presidency was paying for the plane whenever using it. In March, president Basescu said he will take charter planes from a foreign company, and not fly Tarom from now on. According to Romanian media, the cost of one of the president's trips abroad using regular flights stays at some EUR 5,000 to EUR 7,000 for European destinations. The Presidency's budget for trips abroad is of EUR 1.1 million this year. Tarom plans to sell the plane, but it only hopes to get some EUR 2 to 3 million for it. editor@romania-insider.com