He added that by the end of the year the company plans to carry 2.2 million passengers.
“In August, Tarom carried a total of 203,768 passengers through regular flights, up 6% from 192,319 in August 2012,” said Heinzmann, who was appointed manager at Tarom in November last year. His experience in the aviation industry exceeds 25 years.
Heinzmann is the only private manager appointed at Tarom in November with previous experience working at an airline, while the members of the board of directors do not have experience in the management of an airline (with the exception of Nicolae Demetriade, appointed in May this year).
Heinzmann also says the airline carried 166,251 passengers on external flights, up 10.8% in August, while on domestic flights there was an 11.3% decline to 37,517 passengers, amid a decline in the number of flights.
He wants to stay at Tarom
Heinzmann asked transport minister Ramona Manescu to extend his mandate to four years, as initially decided, according to Mediafax.
In the past few months there have been tensions between the members of the executive management team and those of the board of directors. Moreover, Heinzmann’s mandate has been shortened from four years to one year (until November this year).
Dan Pascariu, chairman of the board of directors, was asked by ZF on Sunday if he had talked to Heinzmann about the latter’s mandate and if he planned to extend it, and said “the answer to both questions is no.”
“The company’s losses have been cut and by the end of the year we will hopefully have smaller losses than those budgeted in the management plan, but there is a need for serious restructuring measures that can make the financial results sustainable in the long run,” he said.
Asked by ZF if these measures have been taken, Pascariu said “these restructuring measures have not been taken,” without specifying what “serious restructuring measures” meant.
On Heinzmann’s appointment in November, Pascariu said in a press release that “Heinzmann has the abilities, qualifications and expertise necessary to run a company of Tarom’s complexity because he has indisputable management experience in all four fields: operational, commercial, technical and financial.”
State-run Tarom, where private management was introduced in November last year, ended the first six months of this year, under Heinzmann’s management, with losses of RON63 million (EUR14.3 million). This is half as much as in the similar period of last year. The company also ended the first six months with 7% higher revenues, of RON534 million (EUR121 million), according to data supplied by the company in August.
The results are better than those anticipated in the management plan, the company’s six-month report shows.
Tarom’s board of directors is made up of banker Dan Pascariu, former astronaut Dumitru Prunariu, Valentin Macec – former advisor of Ovidiu Silaghi, former transport minister, Ciprian Ladunca – financial manager and vicepresident of Metlife Alico Romania, businessman Marius Ghenea – owner of online stores PC Fun and PC Garage, and Nicolae Demetriade – former head of Tarom (who replaced former minister of the business world Lucian Isar in May in the board).
(English version by Daniela Stoican)