“There are still opportunities for expansion from the four existing bases in Romania (Bucharest, Iasi, Bacau and Cluj) and fifth base will be opened next year,” Gheorghe Racaru, Blue Air chief executive officer, said on ZF Live.
“The destinations in highest demand are those in Italy but we are surprised to see the growth in Germany and UK. Spain is another good destination, as is France, where we fly to Paris, Nice and Lyon and are negotiating another city for next summer.”
Blue Air posted 900 million lei (EUR200 million) revenue last year, according to Finance Ministry data, up from the RON670 million in 2014. Blue Air has a fleet of 24 aircraft, compared with 15 last year, out of which 9 are its own.
The strategy of the operator has been to expand routes from eastern to western Romania, as access from cities in Moldavia was limited, while the western part of the country had better connections to cities in Europe. This is why the first bases after Bucharest were opened in Bacau and Iasi and then in Cluj, and the airline will also add Constanta next year, which is a first for the country after 1990.
“We will have flights from Constanta to Timisoara, Cluj, Oradea and Iasi and to destinations abroad as of March. We want to encourage Romanians to travel to the seaside. The Black Sea resorts have grown a lot this year, but we did not notice a decline in the number of customers for charter flights abroad.”
Charter flights generated EUR21 million revenue this year, compared with EUR8 million to EUR10 million last year, but they account for only about 7% of the total revenue of Blue Air.
The number of passengers Blue Air carried went up 58% from 2 million in 2015 to 2.6 million in January-September.
The company introduced flights from Iasi to Bucharest and from Bucharest to Cluj last year, and will add Oradea to its list.
“This is the first year after 1990 when Romanian cities are connected without going through Bucharest. We’ve got Iasi-Cluj-Timisoara and will also have Constanta connected to the main centers as of March.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)