TAROM (RO, Bucharest Henri Coanda) is planning to dry-lease two A330s to relaunch long-haul flights, specifically to the United States, starting in May 2020, Romanian aviation website Aeronews.ro has reported.
Sources within the carrier said that Tarom had already applied for slots at both New York JFK and New York Newark, and at Chicago O'Hare airports. It wants to operate to one of the New York airports and to Chicago 4x weekly each.
Tarom has not yet decided whether it wants to dry-lease A330-200s or A330-300s. The airline said that the widebodies will have "around 300 seats" in a two-class configuration.
The Romanian flag carrier has not operated any long-haul services since 2003. It has also not had any widebody aircraft since the retirement of its two A310-300s in September 2016.
Tarom is also due to take its first brand new ATR72-600 at the end of October 2019 or in early November. The carrier expects four such ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprops by the end of 2019 in total and a further five in 2020. The nine aircraft will replace Tarom's current turboprop fleet of seven ATR42-500s and two ATR72-500s as part of a transaction with Nordic Aviation Capital.
The airline is also planning to retire its four B737-300s by the end of the Winter 2019/20 season. Tarom is currently in discussions with manufacturers regarding potential replacements.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, besides the ATRs and the B737-300s, Tarom also operates four A318-100s, four B737-700s, and four B737-800s. It has five B737-8s on firm order from Boeing.
