September 13 (SeeNews) - Romanian flag carrier Tarom said on Thursday it expects 2018 to be its best in the past four years from the financial point of view following a profitable summer season.
Tarom managed to reduce its loss by an 40% year-on-year during the first half of 2018 and increased its revenues by 25%, the company said in a statement without elaborating on the figures.
Also, the company said it is encouraged by the fact that it has made profit in each of the three summer months of 2018 and its passenger numbers grew by 21% on the year during in the first half.
"The positive results achieved by Tarom in 2018 put us back on the right track. We have succeeded in halving the loss of 2017, even though fuel prices have increased exponentially. Tarom has demonstrated this year that it is a strong and credible company," Tarom general manager, Werner Wolff, said.
The air carrier said it has paid 49.7 million lei for fuel during the first six months of the year, 34% more compared to the same period of 2017.
These figures differ from what Tarom announced in August in an interim financial statement, saying that its net loss has narrowed by 23% to 78 million lei ($19 million/17 million euro) in the first half of 2018.
Earlier this year, the transport ministry said it expected that Tarom would end 2018 with a slim profit following 10 straight years of loss.
In July, Tarom signed a $586 million (504 million euro) contract with US aerospace company Boeing for the delivery of five 737 MAX 8 airplanes.
In June, the company sold two Airbus A310 aircraft to Armenia Airways Aircompany for $5.48 million.
Tarom is currently operating on international and domestic routes with a fleet of 25 aircraft. So far in 2018, the company has added 14 new routes.
(1 euro =4.6391 lei)