TAROM / LAR

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TAROM"Transporturile Aeriene ROMâne" (Romanian Air Transport) was founded by the Romanian Government on the 18th September 1954. It is based at Bucharest Otopeni (Henri Coandă International) Airport. As a former Soviet Bloc Country its fleet of aircraft were originally made up of Soviet types such as the Antonov An24 & An26, Illyushin Il-18 & Il-62, and Tupolev Tu-154 however in 1968 the airline ordered the BAC 1-11 and also acquired the Boeing 707 in 1974. The airline is still state owned but its fleet is now made up of 23 modern western built aircraft, Airbus A310 & A318, ATR42 & ATR72 and Boeing 737. On the 25th June 2010 the airline joined the Skyteam Alliance. The TAROM logo, representing a swallow in flight, has been used on all TAROM aircraft since 1954.

TAROM ordered six new Series 424EUs YR-BCA - BCF on the 26th February 1968.  These were delivered in an 84 seat single class configuration between June 1968 and December 1969.

Tarom's first BAC 1-11 Series 424EU YR-BCA being prepared for delivery at Hurn May 1968 - Adrian Balch

A Series 409AY YR-BCP was leased from the manufacturer from May to August 1969.  Two used aircraft were obtained in June and August 1972, these being a Series 401AK YR-BCG and a Series 402AP YR-BCH.  

YR-BCG series 401AK, an ex American Airlines aircraft at Paris Orly July 1979 via Ian Haskell

The airline later ordered five new Series 525FTs YR-BCI - BCM, with delivery between March and August 1977.  

A superb shot of four of the series 525FTs on the final assembly line at Hurn early in 1977 - BAe Systems

Two further Series 525FTs, YR-BCN, BCO were added in June 1981 and March 1982.  

The last Hurn built Series 525FT prior to delivery in March 1982 - BAe Systems

Following completion of a deal to transfer production of the One-Eleven from Hurn to Bucharest-Băneasa, further Romaero built Series 561RCs were added to the fleet.  A new pure freighter Series 487GK was bought from BAe with delivery in late July 1981.  This was initially used by TAROM to transfer components for the new production line from Hurn to Băneasa.  

YR-BCR having its cargo door operation checked prior to delivery to Tarom in July 1981 - BAe Systems

The first of the Romanian built aeroplanes YR-BRA was delivered in late December 1982 however it appears that only the first four ROMBACs were delivered for airline service by the company. Although the remaining five were all prepared for TAROM by ROMBAC and were rolled off the Baneasa production line in full TAROM livery YR-BRE appears to have been stored at the factory while BRFand BRG were immediately leased out to other airlines until seeing limited TAROM service in the 1990s. BRH and BRI appear to have remained in storage at Baneasa and were eventually delivered to Romavia instead. 

Tarom's first ROMBAC 1-11 Series 561RC YR-BRA Seen at Berlin Schonefeld May 1984

The aircraft were used on an extensive network of scheduled services throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa together with charter work.  Points served in Europe on a scheduled basis included Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin (Schönefeld), Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Larnaca, London (Heathrow and Stansted), Madrid, Manchester, Milan (Malpensa), Moscow, Paris (Orly and Charles de Gaulle), Prague, Rome, Skopje, Sofia, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Thessaloniki, Tirana, Vienna, Warsaw and Zürich.  In the Middle East Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Kuwait and Tel Aviv were served while Algiers and Tripoli were served in North Africa.  The company also leased its One-Elevens to numerous carriers in Europe and Africa.  The pure freighter Series 487GK was leased to Anglo Cargo from March 1986 until it ceased trading in January 1992 and reportedly to GAS Airlines of Nigeria soon after this and finally to Chrome Air of Nigeria from April 1999 to July 2002.  Four of the Series 400 aircraft were transferred to LAR, TAROM’s separate charter arm, together with one of the Series 561RCs.  Series 500s were leased to Ryanair in Eire, Adria Airways, Inex Adria, Air Alfa and JAT in Yugoslavia and to Anadolu Hava Yollari, Istanbul Hava Yollari and Marmara Hava Yollari Airlines in Turkey.  The company also leased aircraft to British Island Airways, Dan-Air Services and London European Airways in the United Kingdom, to Aero Asia in Pakistan, to Lauda Air in Austria and to GAS Airlines in Nigeria.  One Series 500 was still operating schedules with TAROM in late March 2000 but it is believed the type was finally withdrawn soon after this.

LAR "Liniile Aeriene Române" (Romanian Airlines) commenced operations in December 1975 as the charter flights division of TAROM. It operated four 1-11s YR-BCC - BCF from the TAROM fleet. They were operated on charter services throughout Europe.

YR-BCD Heathrow mid 1970s - BAe Systems

A single ROMBAC 1-11 YR-BRE was leased during the winter of 1990/91. The Airline is believed to have ceased operations in 1992.

YR-BRE Paris Orly June 1990 via Michael Roeser

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