January 17 (SeeNews) - Romania's government said that it has approved a 195 million lei ($46 million/41 million euro) rescue plan for the country's flag carrier Tarom.
Without this loan from the Treasury Tarom would be unable to finance its current operations after March, the head of the prime minister's office, Ionel Danca, said in a televised statement at the end of a weekly government meeting on Thursday evening.
Tarom must now come up with a restructuring plan, Danca said.
Earlier this month, Tarom said it has narrowed its net loss to 171.4 million lei in 2019, from 182.7 million lei in 2018. Tarom's 2019 turnover is estimated at 1.51 billion lei, up from 1.4 billion lei in 2018, according to preliminary company data published in Romania's official gazette.
2019 was Tarom's 12th straight year of annual loss.
In December, Romania's transport ministry said it will seek rescue aid from the European Commission and the national budget to save Tarom. The ministry will apply for 47 million euro ($52.3 million) in aid from Brussels plus a restructuring package of about 110 million euro from the state budget in order to rescue the company, transport minister Lucian Bode said at the time.
Also in December, the transport ministry announced that Tarom has signed a contract to lease nine ATR aircraft in order to replace seven old planes. The airline will receive four of the nine new ATR 72-600s by February, with the rest will be delivered by the end of 2020.
Tarom is operating on international and domestic routes with a fleet of 25 aircraft - seven ATR-42-500 , two ATR-72, 4 Boeing 737-700, 4 Boeing 737-300, 4 Boeing 737-800 NG, and 4 Airbus A318-111.
(1 euro =4.7795 lei)