November 21 (SeeNews) - Romanian flag carrier Tarom said that it has named Wolff Werner Wilhelm as interim chief executive officer (CEO).
Wolff Werner, a former director at auto-dealership group Automobile Bavaria, will replace former interim CEO Daniela Dragne, who resigned on November 16.
The term of the new interim CEO is set to last four months, Tarom said in a press release late on Monday.
Tarom gave no reasons for the resignation of Dragne who was appointed at the beginning of October for a term of 30 days. Dragne was Tarom's fourth CEO in less than two years.
Tarom's previous interim CEO and former airline pilot Florin Susanu resigned on September 19, before the end of his term, saying that he preferred to go back to the cockpit. Former CEO Eugen Davidoiu resigned in August after only five months on the job following criticism from prime minister Mihai Tudose for the company's huge loss in the first half of the year.
In March last year, Tarom's CEO Christian Heinzmann was fired by the transport ministry due to unjustified losses posted by the company and too many sick leave days taken by its staff. Eugen Davidoiu stepped in as a CEO in February this year, taking over from Dan Plaveti, the interim CEO that filled up for Heinzmann.
Tarom expects its gross loss will widen to 206.7 million lei ($52.6 million/44.5 million euro) in 2017, according to estimates posted on the website of the transport ministry at the beginning of November.
The expected gross loss in 2017 is more than four times higher than the provisional 2016 gross loss of 46.9 million lei, the ministry said in an estimate of Tarom's performance.
In the previous estimate published in September, the company was expected to close 2017 a much smaller gross loss, of 41.2 million lei.
In 2016, the company marked its ninth straight non-profitable year.
(1 euro=4.6469 lei)